Enemy Without
by Genesis1
Summary: Angel has to face his worst enemy yet... himself
1.

PROLOGUE

"I can't do this anymore," Angel said tiredly, falling into his easychair. The bloodcaked weapons used in their latest battle were lying forgotten on the floor. 

"Sometimes I really wish there were two of me," he said. Cordelia and Wesley, sprawled on his couch, just looked at him. They were too tired and sore to even blink, much less form an answer.

********************

"Did you get what you need to work the spell?"

Lindsey McDonald was standing at the feet of what appeared to be a mass of disemboweled goo. Slowly, the non-as-dead-as-it-appeared demon started pulling all its little parts together, rising to its full height of 7 feet. 

"Yes. More than enough." It spoke in a low thundering voice. Lindsey could hear the evil anticipation in that voice. This demon was going to enjoy the job handed to him by Wolfram & Hart's Senior Partners.

"That's good. The Senior Partners expect results. And fast. Preparations have already begun, and Angel can't be allowed to interfere." Lindsey masked his trembling nerves with urgency. His fear of the Senior Partners was definitely greater than his fear of this massive thing with a voice like nails scraping the bottom of Hell itself.

Ma'hlak turned his back to the lawyer and, walking away into the dark, said, "Angel won't interfere. Ever again."

********************

1

"So that thing's dead for good, right?" Cordelia asked the others. "Because I really don't want to be doing this again soon," she grimaced as she pinched a piece of intestine off the axe blade she was cleaning with her thumb and forefinger, dropping it on the pile of rags and guts growing on the floor.

Wesley and Angel looked up from their own cleaning. 

"Don't worry. It won't be bothering us again," Wesley said. "Gunn's performing the burial rituals as we speak."

Angel didn't say anything. He just went back to scrubbing at the blood still staining his sword's blade, thinking of the previous night's battle. Something bugged him. He just didn't know what. And that bugged him even more. He frowned.

"Oh, no! Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it!" Cordelia said. Angel looked up, surprised. "I know you, and when you frown like that, it usually means trouble. And if that trouble has anything to do with this," she motions with a sticky piece of flesh, dropping it with a wet sucking sound on the heap, "I don't want to hear it." 

"What? No, … it's just… It's nothing." Angel shook his head, trying to dislodge this feeling of ….. something, but the little voice at the base of his spine wouldn't stop whispering its doubts.

"Angel, it was a brutal fight, but you won. The demon's dead. You don't have to doubt that," Wesley said in his most logical Watcher voice.

"I know…" Angel faltered. He shook his head again, and said more assuredly, "I know. You're right. It was just such a hard battle. I guess I'm having trouble believing something that tough is actually dead." 

But Angel knew even as he said it that he didn't believe a single word he just spoke. There was something very wrong, and he knew that for a fact. And his instinct was never wrong.

As if to prove his point, the phone rang. It was Gunn. Angel listened in silence, his hand clenching the phone tighter and tighter as the seconds passed. "I understand," he said and hung up the phone.

"That was Gunn," he said, not turning to face his friends. "We have a problem."

Cordelia and Wesley looked at each other, the worry clearly marked on their faces. They both knew that tone. The shit has very clearly just hit the fan in a big way.

"The body's missing," Angel said. 

"Did Gunn go to the right place? I mean, he could have gotten the addresses mixed up, couldn't he?" Cordy asked, alarmed.

"He said it was the place. He could tell from the blood and guts splattered everywhere. But no body." Angel scratched his head. Why would anyone steal a 7-foot Raz'lah demon's body? It didn't make sense!

"The demon's body was stolen? Why?" Wesley asked, giving voice to Angel's thoughts. "It doesn't make any sense. Raz'lah demons can't be restored."

Angel glanced at his watch. Yes, his internal sense is still spot-on. "Sunset's in a few minutes. I'm going down there to have a look for myself," he said, grabbing his duster with one hand and his sword with the other.

Wesley got up and gathered his things. "I'm coming with you."

"No." Angel raised his hand to stop Wesley. "I need you and Cordy to go through the books, find anything and everything on Raz'lah demons and what their corpses could be used for."

"But…" Wesley started to protest, but it was too late. Angel was already out the door.

"I'll call when I get there!" he called as the door slammed behind him.

*********************

The black GTX roared in next to Gunn's pickup truck. Angel jumped out and crossed the distance between him and Gunn in an instant.

"You find anything?" Angel asked.

"You mean like a dead, and by the looks of things seriously damaged, demon? No, sorry. Didn't find Waldo either. Not my night I guess," Gunn replied. Angel glared irritably down at Gunn.

Slowly he made the rounds of the grounds. The battle took place in a clearing just outside the city limits. No interruptions from nosy cops. The ground was covered in claw marks, some of them the missing demon's and some Angel's. Blood splatter patterns covered the rocks and shrubbery. Where the demon's blood touched the plant life, the leaves had turned black and dead. Powerful blood. Something that looked like cloth dangled from a jutting branch, but Angel could identify it as skin, his skin, from its smell. Both demons gave as good as they got.

"Must have been some party," Gunn remarked, also staring at the skin lightly flapping in the wind.

"There's no drag marks."

"Huh?" Gunn sounded confused.

"Drag marks. In the dirt. And if you were going to move a body 7 feet long, wouldn't you have brought some transportation? There's no tyre marks. How did they, whoever 'they' are, move him?" Angel started to pace up and down the outside rim of the damage zone, looking for any indication that someone other than him or Gunn has been there.

"The only tracks I saw were those over there, but…" Gunn started.

"Where? Show me," Angel interrupted.

Gunn led him over to the furthest corner of the clearing. There they found a path leading into the brush. Gunn took out his flashlight to illuminate the tracks, but that wasn't necessary. Angel's vampiric nightvision enabled him to see quite well in the deepest of night. And tonight was a full moon.

"These aren't human," he said, bending down to inspect the footprints closer. "But they were made by only one creature. Although, guessing by the size of the print, it wouldn't have had any trouble with a really big body."

Gunn bent down beside him and shone the light over them. Angel squinted at the sudden flare of light. 

"Sorry, but us humans need a little extra help seeing in the dark," he said and turned his attention back to the print. "I'm no expert tracker or anything, but these don't seem deep enough for a really big demon carrying another really big dead demon. I mean, wouldn't the prints be deeper if you had to carry the dead weight of something over 7 feet?"

Angel rose, nodding, "You're right. The tracks aren't deep enough. And…" Angel trailed off, his attention diverted by something else only he can see in the dim light. He walked over to investigate, with Gunn trailing behind.

"These, however, are very much human," Angel said, bending down to inspect the new set of tracks he spotted. He pinched some dirt between his fingers and sniffed it. "Terrified human, at that."

Gunn turned to look at the clearing again. Not even the falling night could hide the savagery of the fight that took place there. "I can believe that."

"So why would a human come here?" Angel mused. He rose, turning to scan the scene from their mystery guest's point of view.

"Gawker?" Gunn offered. "You get some pretty warped people out there who's into this kind of scene."

"No. The only humans here last night were Cordy and Wesley. I would have known if we had spectators."

"So he raised the demon then. We are missing a demon's body and a demon did walk away from here. Could be your dead demon is the owner of the tracks?"

Again, Angel shook his head. "Raz'lah demons can't be raised. If they're dead, they stay dead. That's why they're so hard to kill. No, we're looking at something different here. I just can't see it!"

Gunn held up his hand to calm the tensing vampire. "Chill! We'll figure it out. No need to get all postal."

Angel hadn't even realized that he morphed into his true demon face until he saw the glimmer of fear in his companion's eyes, and took a deep cleansing breath, morphing back into his human face. Calm down, he thought. "Sorry," he said. "There's nothing more you can do here. Take these samples to Wesley. Tell him to every possible test on them. I want to know what species we're dealing with here. I'm going to see if I can find where those tracks lead to." 

Angel handed Gunn the samples he'd been taking and walked to the hidden path, the dark swallowing him up. 

"Okay, boss," Gunn said. "Tense guy." Shaking his head, Gunn left. 

Angel didn't hear Gunn leave. He was concentrating all his senses on finding and following the mystery demon's tracks. 

The night had gotten very dark very fast as black clouds covered the moon's luminescence. Angel caught a whiff of ozone in the air, but wrote it off to the building storm. Thunder clapped, but fell on deaf ears as Angel followed the path glowing faintly before him. Powerful demon, he thought to himself. Only the most powerful of magicks can leave a visible line in the wake of the caster.

The glow led him into another small clearing. He was so intent on not losing the trail that was fast disappearing that he never noticed the pentagram he stepped in. He saw the flash an instant before it hit him. And by then it was too late.

The lightning bolt threw him to the ground with a bone jarring crash. He groaned, pulling himself painfully to his hands and knees, trying to get his feet under him without falling down. Every nerve ending tingled and zinged from the blast, but luckily electrocution is not very effective when it comes to killing the undead.

"Oh boy, that was fun," he groaned to the night sky. Angel got up slowly. "Not your normal, natural weather pattern, I guess. Maybe Wesley…"

Angel cried and doubled over. He sank down to his knees as the pain ripped through his very being. 

"What…?" Angel tried to get up, tried to draw breath into aching lungs. But the pain ripped through him again, worse this time. He screamed. The last time he felt pain like this was right after Buffy, when he lost his soul.

"This can't be happening," he cried. "Not again! Aaaarrrrrggghhh!!!!"

The pain was so intense. The last time was a piece of cake compared to this. Angel felt the darkness crawling into his line of vision. He tried to fight it, but unconsciousness claimed him. 

Ma'hlak, flashing a pleased smile that transformed his already hideous face into a nightmare, stepped out of the dark brush. 

"It is done," he said, and laughed as the magical clouds parted, the moon shining its faint glow on the prone body lying in the center of the pentagram.

2

"Hmmm… This is interesting," Wesley mumbled.

Gunn had arrived a few hours ago with the samples Angel wanted checked out. It was slow going, but finally Wesley had some results.

"Finally! What's interesting?" Cordelia asked. She handed Gunn and Wesley some coffee and sat down.

Wesley pulled off his latex gloves and stretched his back. He winced as his spine cracked back into place. "These samples were taken from the battle zone?" Wesley asked Gunn.

"Yeah. From the rocks that got splattered the worst, and from the dead plants. Why?"

Wesley frowned. "It seems the demon Angel killed last night wasn't a Raz'lah. Or not totally."

"What do you mean 'not totally'? Angel identified it himself. He generally likes to know what he kills before he kills it," Cordelia said. 

"Yes, well, Angel wasn't wrong this time either. And he was. Our Raz'lah was of a mixed breed. I just don't know with what it was mixed yet." Wesley rubbed his hand over his face. He was tired, but Angel counted on him. "Maybe it would be a good idea to see if there are reports of a mixed breed Raz'lah on record. If there was, we could get a name on who and what it was. And how to deal with it if it's not dead yet."

"Research mode," Cordelia said with a sigh and got up. This was going to be a very long night.

Gunn also got out of his chair, but didn't follow Cordelia to the library. "Shouldn't we warn Angel that his demon might not be entirely dead? He could be off tracking this thing right now. And I'll say it's a fair bet this mixed breed thing will not be happy to see Angel."

Cordelia and Wesley looked at each other and then at the clock's face, realizing that they haven't heard from Angel since he left. Five hours ago.

"I'll call him on the cell," Cordy said, already dialing. She let the phone ring for a full sixty seconds, the worry creeping deeper into her eyes with every unanswered ring. "No answer," she said. "I don't like this. I've been having a bad feeling all day long, and it's getting worse. Something's wrong."

"Come on," Gunn said, grabbing his coat and keys. 

The three arrived at the clearing, parking next to the black convertible.

"His car is still here. Maybe he's still around too," Cordy said hopefully. "Or maybe the fact that his car is still here is a bad sign. Angel!"

The others jumped when she called Angel's name. But only the echoes answered her.

"Where was this trail Angel wanted to check out?" Wesley asked.

"Over here," Gunn said and started walking, not looking back if the others were following him. He was starting to have a really bad feeling too.

Angel's passage down the dim track cleared the path out some and Gunn found his way easily. The night was starting to lighten. They knew they had to hurry. Sunrise was coming fast.

"I can see a clearing ahead," Gunn called and picked up his pace. He was the first out of the brush, and the first to see the body.

"Angel!" he called, rushing to the still figure. Gunn turned Angel's body over, checking for damage. 

Cordelia and Wesley knelt down on Angel's other side, also touching him, shaking him, trying to revive him.

"We have to get him under cover. The sun will be up soon," Wesley said urgently. He grabbed Angel's right arm, with Gunn taking up the left and Cordelia helping to lift his shoulders.

"Boy, he's heavy," she grunted. "Talk about your dead weight."

********************

A red tinge crept into the perfect darkness behind Angel's eyes. He could hear voices, but they were far away, like they were travelling to his ears through sludgy water. He tried to lift his eyelids, but the muscles wouldn't follow his mind's commands at first. His head throbbed in rhythm with the red behind his eyes, every throb making the light sparks brighter. Slowly, painfully, Angel lifted his hand to his head. 

"At least it's still attached," he thought.

Cordelia's amplified voice sliced through that thought. "You guys! He's awake!"

"Man, I wish it wasn't," he grimaced and croaked out, "Cordelia, please…"

Angel managed to pull himself into a sitting position on his bed, opening his eyes carefully. The room was pleasantly devoid of light.

"What happened?" he asked when Wesley and Gunn entered the room.

"What do you remember?" Wesley countered, examining Angel. Angel sucked in his breath when Wesley accidentally touched a tender spot on Angel's chest. 

"I remember tracking something through the brush," he said, voice straining around the abating pain in his chest. "I remember…. Clouds covering the moon? Lightning. It hit me." He gingerly touched the black mark on his chest. "I fell, and then…." The memory of intense pain returned, making his face distort again. "The pain… I don't know… I blacked out."

The 3 people standing around Angel's bed looked at each other, and the same thought could be read in all their faces. What could have been bad enough to make Angel, who survived the pain and torment of Hell itself, black out for five hours? 

"Wesley, did you find anything in those samples?" Angel asked. He tried to get up, but when the world started spinning, he thought better of it and sank back into the pillows.

"That can wait for now," Wesley said. He knew if he reported what he found, Angel would never stay in bed. Angel may be undead, but he is seriously hurt and needs to recuperate.

Angel gave Wesley an irritated look. "Wesley. Tell me. Now."

The Brit sighed. His boss can be aggrevatingly insistent sometimes. "It wasn't a Raz'lah," he began. "It was a mixed breed. We're still trying to identify who and what it was."

"So you have no reason to get out of that bed until you're healed," Cordelia chipped in. "We'll keep you updated, but you can't do anything right now, in any case. Just stay put."

Gunn grinned. Only Cordelia could get away with ordering the vampire around like he worked for her, instead of the other way around.

Angel grinned too, and said, "Okay, alright. I'll stay put. Tell me when you find our demon's identity. I need to be better prepared for when I see him again."

*********************

A loud crash reverberated through the dark hallway. Ma'hlak looked up from his spellbook and grinned. His guest was finally awake.

"Hey!" The call was followed by another crash. "Where the fuck am I?! If you know what's fucking good for you…!" Another crash. "you'll let me out of this fucking cage! NOW!!!" 

Ma'hlak laughed. There couldn't be much more in the room that could be broken, but he decided it was wiser to calm his guest down before his guest ripped the walls down.

He opened the looking hole in the cast iron door. The man inside was pacing the floor with the grace and pent-up rage of a caged tiger. He looked up the sound of the looking hole's latch being opened and snarled at the face that appeared.

Ma'hlak reveled in the murderous glare radiating from the golden eyes. The light reflected off bared fangs, the growl emanating from his guest's throat like rolling thunder. 

"Let me out!" his voice thundered.

"Now, now. Is that any way to behave as a guest in my home?" Ma'hlak chided, casting his eyes over the debris cluttering up the floor. He pulled back just in time to miss the hand flashing out through the looking hole, grabbing for his throat. He's fast, Ma'hlak thought, shocked. He hadn't even seen the dark figure move until it was almost too late.

The man, having missed his intended target, uttered a ferocious growling scream and, grabbing the edge of the hole, yanked at the door with all his strength. Ma'hlak stepped back, unable to hide his shock this time when the door buckled.

An evil grin of satisfaction lit on the man's face, baring his fangs even further. "You'd be wise to let me out of here. If I have to break out on my own, I might not be in such a good, forgiving mood."

Ma'hlak blinked, and laughed. "Yes. Oh yes, you will be perfect," he laughed as he opened the door. "Come! We have a lot to talk about!"

The golden eyes turned the blackest brown. The man uttered a chilling laugh, the deadly fangs hidden behind perfect human teeth. He didn't say a word, but the glint in his eyes, the raw power flowing through his body as he strode out the door promised death to the laughing demon if he so much as thought the wrong thing.

He looked around him. "This your place?" he asked, but Ma'hlak knew what was actually said.

"Consider this your home. What is mine, is yours to do with as you see fit. Lord Angelus."

3

Lindsey sat in the deep armchair, sipping slowly from his brandy. He looked around the room with pleasure and envy. This upstairs living area was as luxurious as every other room in the colossal mansion. Russell Winters, very rich undead client of Wolfram & Hart, had taste, Lindsey thought with a little smile. Good for us that Angel killed him. 

He thought back to that day in Winters' conference room when he first saw Angel. The vampire looked so sure of himself. And the amusement that shone from his dark eyes as he just shrugged off Lindsey's threats after tossing Winters out the window, into the deadly sunlight. Lindsey hated Angel for all the trouble he's caused him and Wolfram & Hart. But Lindsey hated Angel more for making him feel envious. That damned creature made him feel worthless with every glance and gesture. It's been his mission to bring "His High-and-Mightiness" down a peg or two, and he's finally succeeded.

"Of course. Who else but the little badboy wannabe lawyer," a familiar voice said from the doorway, shaking Lindsey from his musings.

He got up out and put his drink on the mantle over the fire, before turning to face the voice's owner. 

"Angel," he started to say, but was cut off by a very cold, very powerful hand closing around his throat.

"Don't ever address me by that weakling's name. Ever!" Angelus spat in Lindsey's face. 

Lindsey struggled to pull air into his lungs, but the tightening fingers holding him off the floor by his neck wouldn't allow it. Angelus smiled visciously at the feeling of the mortal's heart hammering into the palm of his hand, and squeezed just a little more. Lindsey's eyes bulged out of their sockets at the added pressure.

He nearly passed out when Angelus suddenly let go, dropping him on legs that couldn't hold his weight. Coughing and gulping air alternatively, Lindsey looked up at the man towering over his kneeling form. For the first time a tiny glimmer of doubt entered his mind. This was not Angel. This man – no, this creature was something completely different. How was he going to control him?

Angelus laughed when he tried to get up, falling back to his knees when his legs buckled under him again. 

"Get him up," Angelus ordered Ma'hlak. "And where's my dinner? I feel like I haven't fed in ages." Angelus eyed the kneeling, gasping man, breathing in the terror pouring off him. He was getting very hungry.

Lindsey watched with creeping fear as Ma'hlak, a fierce and deadly warrior (Oh, and huge. Can't forget huge.), jumped to do the vampire's bidding. 

Ma'hlak picked Lindsey up and dumped him unceremoniously back into the armchair he was sitting in. He quickly left the room and came back, leading a young girl by the arm. 

The girl, dark-haired and fairskinned, had a vacant look in her eyes, like the lights were on but nobody was home. "Drugged. Too bad. Fear makes the blood so very sweet," Angelus thought as he ripped open her throat with a guttural growl. 

She died quickly, but Angelus didn't mind. She wasn't sport. She was merely a meal to still the hunger. There would be time enough for a proper hunt, for a feast. Cordelia's face flashed before his mind's eye and he grinned as it was replaced by Wesley, Gunn, Kate and, inevitably, the blonde Slayer's. Oh yes, a feast indeed.

*********************

Angel jerked awake from the fevered dream gripping him. He rubbed his hand over his face to get rid of the remnant images still clinging to him, and was shocked to feel the extended ridge over his brow. His tongue darted over his teeth, confirming the presence of elongated canines, and quickly fought the demon inside him back behind his human features.

He slowly rose from the bed. His body was still sore and stiff (probably will be for another week by the feel of it), but he was healing fast. Advantage to being a vampire, he thought.

Cordelia looked up from an ancient volume open before her. "Why aren't you in bed?" she chided.

Angel shrugged and carefully sank down onto the couch in their front entrance. "I had a weird dream," he said.

"Oh, still dreaming about Darla?" Cordelia asked.

"Actually, I dreamt I ate you all," Angel answered matter-of-factly.

He heard Cordelia choke on the bite of doughnut, and rolled his head to look at her. Her face was pale and brown saucers were where her eyes should be. 

"You're just kidding, right?" she croaked around the wedge of dough still trying to get down her windpipe and swallowed hard.

He smiled sweetly and said, "Don't worry. If I ate you, you'd probably come back to give me terminal indigestion. Besides, I don't eat my friends. Not anymore, that is. The dream was probably just symbolic of some coming danger or something."

"Well, just as long as we're clear on the eating-your-friends-is-bad concept." Cordelia grabbed the book and walked over to Angel. "Here. I think I may have found something on that demon."

Angel took the book from her, and made room for her on the arm of the couch. He followed as Cordelia paraphrased, "Ma'hlak was the spawn of a shapeshifter and a Raz'lah demon. Apparently, outwardly he looks like your average Raz'lah, but the shapeshifter in him made him more… durable. He can basically pull himself together again. Think that guy in Terminator 2. No matter how many times you blew him up, he just kept melting together and coming."

"Like the demon world's version of the Energizer bunny then?"

"Sure. If the Energizer bunny was over 7 feet tall with claws, teeth and slime." Cordelia shook her head at that mental image and continued, "Ma'hlak is also supposed to be very big in magic circles."

"He can increase his size with magic?" Angel asked, confused.

"No. He's a wizard… warlock… whatever. He can do some very serious magic," Cordelia answered, the look on her face saying 'you ask a stupid question, expect a stupid answer'. 

"That would explain the pentagram we found you in," Wesley said, entering the room from the lab. "From the genetic breakdown on the sample cells, I can confirm that our Raz'lah is part shapeshifter."

"So now I know who I'm looking for," Angel said, studying the etching of Ma'hlak in the book. He frowned and asked, "What pentagram?"

Wesley pushed his glasses back up his nose, frowning, "You didn't notice the pentagram? That's not like you."

"You were lying in the centre of a pentagram scratched in the dirt when we found you," Cordelia offered. She made herself comfortable in the armchair opposite Angel. "Why are you frowning like that?" 

Angel ignored Cordelia's question and turned his attention to Wesley, "Can you find out what spell was cast there?"

"Maybe. The placing of the stones and carvings seemed very specific. If I can find the spell that corresponds with that particular layout, I can probably narrow the possible castings down to a few possibilities. But it will take time. I don't have any basis of comparison to begin with. For all we know, they could have been trying to conjure up the Teletubbies."

Cordelia's face lit up with understanding, "Oh! This is about your dream!" 

Wesley looked at Cordelia questioningly. 

Cordelia answered his look, "Angel dreamt he ate us all." Her face fell and worry clouded her hazel eyes. "Oh. This is about your dream."

"Angel?" Wesley called. The vampire was frowning, clearly not following his and Cordelia's exchange. "Do you have an idea what spell was cast?"

Angel forced himself to focus on Wesley's words. "What? Oh. I don't know. Where's Gunn?" 

He had a very bad feeling at the pit of his stomach that Gunn was in trouble. He got up, grabbed his coat and car keys and quickly made his way to the door. 

"I'm going to check on Gunn," he called over his shoulder and walked into the night.

4

Gunn paced the deserted alley behind the shelled-out factory. A half-hour earlier that lady cop, Lockley, had called him. She'd wanted to meet him here. Actually, one of her informants wanted to meet her here, but would only talk to her through him. 

The price you pay for saving a kid's life is being inconvenienced now and then, he thought irritably. He didn't like being here without any backup. This wasn't the kind of neighborhood you came to alone in the middle of the night.

He jumped when what sounded like a choked-off scream broke the silence and his train of thought, his heart triphammering in his throat. He started in the general direction of the sound when a stray cat leapt past him into the night. He cried out and grabbed for his heart that just skipped a beat or two.

"Jeez! Come on, Gunn! It was just a stupid cat," he chided himself. Gunn turned back to the alley and cried out again, taking a step back.

"Jesus! Angel! Give a guy a heart attack, why don't ya!" Gunn gulped in some air to force his heart back down into his chest. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Angel answered. "You're in danger. Don't you have any of your crew here to watch your back?"

"They know where I am. But you know that if you're here," Gunn snapped. He shrugged past the dark-clad frame, peering into the shadows. He didn't want Lockley's guy to be scared off by a nosy vampire with bad timing. 

"Look, I'm expecting someone," he prodded, looking back over his shoulder. "And he doesn't want company…"

Angel watched the shadows intently, trying to see any movement that might be a person. He slowly did a 360° turn. "But you're in danger," he said.

Gunn cursed under his breath. Damn stubborn vamp, he grumbled. Out loud he said to Angel's back, "What danger?"

"That would be me!" Angel turned on Gunn with a growl. His hand shot out, grabbing the shocked black man by the throat. The vampire lifted Gunn on tiptoe. No sense in killing the boy slowly. That wouldn't be any fun.

Gunn clawed for the stake in his back pocket. He closed his fist in a death grip around the wooden shaft and lunged as best he could from his precarious position.

Angel smirked as his hand closed around the wrist holding the wooden stake and squeezed. Gunn cried out in pain as Angel slowly, slowly crushed the bones in his wrist. 

"My God, he's enjoying this," Gunn thought panicked, watching the glee dancing in Angel's almost black eyes at the sound and feel of bone scraping and snapping against bone.

His stake clattered to the concrete ground. 

"Oops. Did you drop something?" Angel laughed shrilly. He breathed in Gunn's fear and pain, and smiled. He pulled Gunn in close to him, making sure the scared young man could see only him and nothing else. Angel watched with pleasure at the terror lighting up Gunn's eyes. 

Gunn was mesmerized by the sight of Angel's canines slowly descending into razor-sharp fangs, Angel's brow pushing forward over glowing golden eyes. The nails on the hand clasping his throat pushed painfully against his skin, and his heart jumped at the sensation. 

"Do you want to beg for your life, my young friend?" Angel sneered, laughing visciously at the feel of Gunn's quickening pulse under his fingers. "Or maybe you want to trade in mortality for something more lasting?"

"Go to Hell!" Gunn hissed out through clenched teeth and brought his knee up between Angel's legs. 

Angel felt Gunn's muscles tense a split second before Gunn's move, just enough time for the vampire to glance out of the way of the questing knee. He threw back his head and bellowed laughter.

"Good!" he said, catching Gunn's eyes with his own. An evil glint flashed in his yellow, demonic eyes when he said, "I've wanted to taste you from the first moment we met."

Gunn's body went rigid as Angel's fangs sank into his throat. He tried to cry out against the blood rushing out of his body down the vampire's throat, but it was getting harder and harder to breathe. His heart pounded in protest to the fast diminishing supply of blood in his body. Darkness was crawling into the edges of his peripheral vision, coaxing him into unconsciousness, into death. He thought he heard someone calling for the vampire to stop, but that could have been his mind's voice being drowned out by the whirlwind buzzing in his ears.

Sudden pain flared in his neck when Angel ripped his fangs free from his throat. Angel let go of his prone body and 

he crumbled into a boneless heap on the ground. Gunn tried to focus through the black spots floating in his line of vision, and saw light flashing off blonde hair. Kate, he thought as the light faded from his consciousness.

Kate raced down the dark alley. She had gotten into the habit of carrying a wooden stake on her person the day she saw Angel's true face, and now she had her other service weapon at the ready. This vamp's dust, she thought, hate making her icy blue eyes flash.

She was nearly on top of the two men when she cried, "Stop!" She saw the vampire was very tall and dark, but in her eyes he was just another bloodsucking fiend that needed some killing. 

It was the victim she was worried about. She had called Gunn earlier and asked him to meet her here. Alone. She insisted, even threatened a little. It would be her fault if she allowed that undead son of a bitch to kill him. 

And Angel would kill me if I found out, she thought too. She would never admit it, but she was scared of the private investigator/vampire that's saved her life on more than one occasion.

She watched as Gunn sank to the ground. Her body hummed with tension, ready to spring into action the moment the vampire turned to her. A familiar voice spoke her name, and all the strength left her battle-ready form.

"Kate," Angel said in a voice that could melt ice. He turned to her, still wearing his true demonic face, and fixed his heated gaze on her.

Kate swallowed. "Angel?" she asked. Her mind couldn't… wouldn't accept what her eyes were seeing.

"Sorry, sweetheart. You must be confusing me with that soulful asswipe goody-goody. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Angelus…" The tall vampire lashed out with his fist, backhanding Kate and sending her flying into the alley wall. "…but you can call me Master," he finished, just as Kate blacked out, blood from her split lip trickling into her mouth.

He closed the distance between them in two easy strides, picked up her slack body and strode away, a happy spring in his step. Angelus hasn't had this much fun since he tortured the Slayer in Sunnydale.

5

Kate was jarred awake when freezing cold water cascaded over her, soaking her to the bone. She tried to scramble away, but cried out in pain. Her chained arms didn't allow for much in the way of scrambling.

She flung her wet locks out of her eyes to look at the man standing over her with a bucket in his hand.

"Ah, my beautiful Detective Lockley," Angelus drawled, clearly enjoying her discomfort. "I'm glad to see you've joined the land of the living again."

"Go to Hell!" she spat at him. She tried to lunge at him, but was rudely thrown back into the wall when her arms reached their maximum mobility.

Angelus moved in close to her, his lips to her ear. "I've been in Hell ever since that creature's soul infected my body," he said. He could smell the fear in having him this close to her. His tongue darted out and ran the path of her ear's outer shell. Kate jerked away from him, her eyes wild with fright.

"I like being free," he said, smiling at the taste of her.

"I'm going to kill you," Kate promised Angelus. Her crystal blue eyes spat angry little darts at him.

Angelus bellowed laughter. 'She's feisty', he thought. 'Like Buffy. I'm going to like practicing on her.' He said, "You've threatened to kill me, or him rather, so many times, thinking he was this great ultimate evil." 

He was still laughing when he turned back from the cell door. "We'll see how you like getting to know the real ultimate evil behind your Angel's face."

Kate felt cold to the core at that comment. 

It's true, she admitted. She always raked Angel, the man who's helped so many innocent people in the past, her included, over the same hate filled comb as all the other vampires, demons and fiends stalking the night. She's read about his exploits before he changed, and tried to imagine him still in that role, but could never quite succeed. He always rubbed some good deed over her mental image. She never truly believed what she read because of that. 

But now she was faced with the terrifying, deadly truth. And she's afraid to her very soul that this truth was going to kill her… and enjoy it.

*********************

The black convertible roared down the alley and stopped just short of the still body. The feeling of impending doom has reached a fever pitch throughout Angel's being, his non-beating heart jumping when the GTX's headlights fell over the body lying in the street. 

Angel gracefully leapt from the car to the body's side. He carefully turned it over to the sight of Gunn's slack face, and roared with anger and grief.

The young black man was ashen from lack of blood, the whites of his eyes showing between his lids. The breath that escaped his parted lips were weak, almost non-existent, but visible to the vampire holding him.

Angel felt for a pulse at Gunn's throat, grimacing at the puncture marks under his fingers. It was there. Barely. His friend was slipping away quickly. He had to hurry if he wanted to save him. 

"Hold on, Gunn," Angel begged the unconscious body, lifting him carefully and placing him in the car's back seat. "Just hold on."

Angel sent up a quick prayer to whoever might be listening to keep his road clear. Time was of the essence and getting into an accident was not in the game plan as Angel pushed his car to the limit, racing down dark streets. His prayers must have been answered, because he screeched to a stop in front of the nearest hospital's emergency room less than five minutes later.

"Help me!" he shouted, holding Gunn's body protectively to his own. 

"What happened?" Three doctors and a nurse quickly had Gunn away from Angel and onto a gurney, checking his vitals, ordering tests and flying down the corridor to the nearest empty trauma room.

"I found him in an alley. He'd lost a lot of blood. He was unconscious when I found him, his pulse very weak. Will he be okay?" Angel recounted, trying to push past the medical staff in his way, wanting to be by Gunn's side.

One of the doctors, a blonde man with alert green eyes, asked, "Is he on any medication?"

"Um… No. No medication. No drugs. He's clean. Will he be okay?" Angel asked again, still trying to push past the doctor blocking his path.

"No pulse!" one of the nurses called, causing everyone to jump into frantic action. Angel shoved at the doctor's chest, panic lighting his dark eyes, but still the doctor restrained him. A male nurse came to the doctor's side to assist in ejecting Angel from the room.

"You have to wait outside. Let us work," the doctor reasoned with Angel. "Please, Sir."

The doctor's words sank into Angel's panicked mind. He looked down into the young man's green eyes and ordered, "Save him."

"Please, Sir." The doctor squirmed under the taller man's intent gaze. 'What would he do if the kid dies?', he wondered and shuddered.

Angel stepped back and allowed the door to whisper shut. He closed his eyes to the commotion inside and whispered another prayer.

"Please."

"Angel!"

Angel lifted his face from his hands at the sound of his name. He rose to meet Cordelia and Wesley rushing down the hall to the waiting room where he's been sitting, waiting, praying.

Cordelia threw her arms around his neck and he gathered her close to him, taking comfort from her. 

"What happened? Is he…?" she asked softly, lifting her chocolate eyes to meet his. She's been crying, Angel saw and the anger flashed through him again.

He shook his head miserably and said, "I don't know. No-one's told me anything."

Angel spotted the doctor walking their way and let go of Cordelia to step into the doctor's path. Cordelia and Wesley turned from their friend and employer to face the doctor, the same question on all three their faces.

"He's alive," the doctor answered their questioning gazes. 

"Oh, thank God!" Cordelia breathed, tears springing to her eyes anew. 

Their relief was short-lived however when the doctor interrupted, "There were complications, however. Does Mr Gunn have any family that can be contacted?"

Wesley answered the doctor, "No. We're the closest thing to family he has in the city. What complications? He's going to be alright, isn't he?"

The doctor, his name tag identifying him as Jackson, scanned the three faces staring back at him and tried to decide what he could and should tell them. He took a deep breath and started, "Mr Gunn had suffered severe blood loss. We have him on a transfuser right now. But he suffered…. um… his heart stopped. We managed to get it started again, but there's no way to tell if he suffered any brain damage. We'll only be able to do that once his regained consciousness." 

"Okay, and when will that be?" Cordelia asked worriedly. 

Doctor Jackson faltered. Now for the hard part. He continued, "Due to the extended and severe depletion of oxygen supplied to Mr Gunn's brain…." He looked into three pairs of terrified eyes and decided to this over as quickly as possible. "He's in a coma. He could regain consciousness in five minutes, five months, or never. There's no way for us to know. All we can do now, all you can do now is wait and pray. I'm sorry."

Angel's already pale face blanched. Wesley caught the sobbing Cordelia in his arms and held her tightly.

"Your friend is being transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at Cedar Sinai. You can follow the ambulance and see him there. I am sorry." Jackson touched Angel's rigid shoulder lightly and left the three to their privacy.

"Oh God! Gunn!" Cordelia wept against Wesley's chest. 

Wesley looked over the dark head at his boss. Angel hadn't moved. His lips were a nearly invisible line and the muscle in his jaw jumped in time with his flexing fists. The Brit knew how he felt. He was feeling it too. The helplessness, the anger at being so damned helpless. He asked, "What do we do now?"

"We find the fuck that did this and we make him pay!" Angel snarled through clenched teeth. He looked at Wesley with eyes glowing nearly golden. He was battling to keep the demon inside from breaking free. He turned on his heel and stalked out of the hospital, Wesley and a still crying Cordelia following him.

Wesley was driving, following the ambulance through the late night traffic. Cordelia sat in the back seat. She still sniffled, and her eyes were still wet, but at least the tears were gone for now. Angel just stared out the passenger side window, his mind racing, trying to make sense of what has happened.

"How could this happen?" Angel asked out loud. "Gunn was always on his guard. A vampire couldn't have jumped him. And even if a vamp did get the jump on him, he wouldn't have gone quietly. How could this happen?"

Wesley frowned. Angel was right. Gunn was gung ho, maybe, but not reckless enough to wait until a vampire was on top of him to attack. 

"Didn't he have anyone watching his back?" Cordelia asked from the back seat, her voice still a bit shaky.

Angel shook his head. "No. Gunn told his people he was asked to come alone."

"Asked by whom? Do you think he perhaps knew his attacker? It would explain how the vampire could get in close enough." Wesley glanced quickly at Angel and turned his attention back to the ambulance's taillights.

"I don't know. Maybe. It's possible," Angel said, running his fingers frustratedly through his dark hair. "We're here."

They followed Gunn up to Intensive Care, and for the next few days hardly left his side. They watched as he slept. They watched for some telltale movement behind his eyelids, in his still hand that would mark his awakening, but he slept. They watched, wondering if he was trapped in some never-ending nightmare being attacked over and over again, not knowing the only image repeating in Gunn's comatose mind was that of the moonlight reflecting off Kate Lockley's blonde hair.

6

"You have beautiful eyes, Kate," Angelus said softly, running the pads of his thumbs lightly over her eyeballs.

"No… please, no," Kate whimpered, begged. She tried to pull her head away from his probing thumbs, but Angelus held her head immobile between his powerful hands.

"Don't worry, Kate. I won't take your eyes," Angelus replied, looking down into her hopeful eyes when the burning started.

Kate blinked furiously against the pain, whipping her head from side to side, the burning cresting to searing agony as the world around her went hazy, and then completely dark. Her keening denials rose in volume until she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

Angelus leaned against the door frame, a pleased little smile pulling at his mouth as he took in his handiwork. 

"Yet," he amended, leaving his pretty little toy to her panicked, painfilled screams.

Ma'hlak was waiting for him outside the cell door. He knew better than to disturb his master when he was 'at play'.

"I don't understand," Ma'hlak questioned. "The potion only blinds her temporarily. Why not just rip her eyes from their sockets?"

Raz'lah demons, even those of mixed heritage, never did understand the finer points of torture, Angelus mused and answered his servant, "What torture could be worse than stealing her hope? Inflicting physical pain may be fun, but nothing is better than killing that little flicker of hope in another creature's eyes that the pain will stop, that she might actually get out of this with her life." 

He looked back fondly at the shaking woman in the cell, relishing in the tears that were cleaning tracks through the blood staining her face and smiled. If Kate was able to see that smile, she would, without a doubt, have been nudged over that narrow little ledge of sanity she was clinging to so desperately.

Angelus started to walk down the hall to the stairway leading up to the main house. His prisoner's screams had made him hungry. Ma'hlak followed behind.

"Joshua has returned with news," he said.

"And what does my young minion have to say?" Angelus asked, entering the kitchen. 

"He is waiting in the study, Lord," Ma'hlak answered. His vampire master had a tendency to kill messengers with bad news, and Ma'hlak liked his life.

Angelus caught Ma'hlak's avoidance of his question, but decided to let it go. 

The vampire jumped at his master's voice booming, "What do you have to report?"

"Master…" Joshua gulped nervously. He didn't know how his lord would take his news. "Gunn…" 

Angelus was getting impatient with the young fledgling and growled, "Spit it out, Joshua!"

"He's still alive. In a coma. At Cedar Sinai. Master, I'm sor…" Joshua sputtered, but was cut off by his Sire's laughter.

Angelus shook his head in amazement. He was impressed. The boy had to have great willpower to survive his feeding. The last person to survive such a feeding was Buffy. And she _was_ the Slayer after all.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Lindsey asked angrily, storming into the study.

Angelus's eyes flashed with immediate and deadly anger. He turned his attention to the cowering vampire still kneeling before him, completely ignoring the human that so rudely spoiled his good mood, and ordered, "Keep watching them. Tell me where they go, who they see, everything. And keep a close watch on the kid's condition too. If he dies, I want to know before those goody-goodies do. Take Janice and Zack with you. Now go."

The minion scrambled to his feet and disappeared out the door. He didn't want to be anywhere near the mansion when his master tore into that foolish mortal.

Lindsey could feel the tension descending on the room. Angelus was not pleased with his interruption, but frankly, he didn't give a flying fuck what the vampire thought! He had a schedule to keep, the Senior Partners were sniffing after his liver, and Angelus was only making things worse.

"Did you hear me?" Lindsey demanded. "You are here for a reason. And that reason is _not _putting Angel's people in the hospital. We tried that, remember? It didn't work. It only pissed him off more!"

Lindsey didn't even see Angelus move until he was thrust up against the wall, choking. Angelus growled at him, "You want to see pissed off, little man? Do that again and I'll _show_ you 'pissed off'!"

He dropped Lindsey and stepped back. "Now. Would you like to try that again? Perhaps with a bit more respect for your elders?" he asked, the warning very clear in his voice and in his face, which had morphed to reveal one very irritated demon.

Lindsey gritted his teeth and gingerly fingered his bruised neck. He pulled himself up slowly, taking the time to get his temper and nerves under control before meeting Angelus's challenging glare. 

Lindsey was amazed to note that Angelus had risen to power in nearly the entire demon and vampire population in Los Angeles in just three days. When he called, every fiend, monster and undead freak answered. 

That could be a problem, Lindsey realised. How do you control a creature with an army like his?, he wondered again, crushing that little voice in the back of his head that was more interested in the other question playing at his nerves. How could I loose this creature on the world? 

He shrugged the doubts aside and said, "The Restoration is a little over two weeks away. The Senior Partners went to a great deal of expense to ensure that Angel not interfere. We were hoping the spell that freed you would kill him, as it should have, but since it didn't, the Senior Partners feel it's up to you to finish what was started."

Lindsey eyed Angelus, trying to gauge if it was safe for him to continue. His throat still hadn't recovered from their first meeting, and adding even more bruises on top of the old ones was not on his 'To Do' list for today. Angelus only glared at him, murder still burning in his eyes. He was hungry. Hunger made him testy.

"The Senior Partners are concerned. They feel you haven't lived up to your end of the deal. Angel is still alive. And as such, the Senior Partners feel that Angel is still a threat. A threat they want eliminated as soon as possible. They …." Lindsey paused, choosing his words carefully. "They suggest you stop messing about with unimportant mortals like Gunn and Lockley, and fulfill your part of the bargain."

Angelus closed his eyes, as if deep in thought. He looked down the mystical line that connected him with his soulful half. A cruel smile curled at his lips. 

"I seem to be holding up my end of the deal pretty nicely," he said and opened his eyes. "Do you want to know what my 'lighter' half is doing right now? Nothing. That's what. He's not out there combating evil or seeking justice for that bald little punk. He's just sitting in that hospital room, holding the kid's hand, and feeling all tortured over not being there to save him!" 

He moved in behind the huge mahogany desk, sat down on the leather chair and propped his feet on the desk's edge. "I will kill Angel in my own time. But first, I have a score to settle with Feelings Boy." 

He dropped his feet and leaned over the desk, looking intensely at Lindsey, and said with a voice that brooked no argument, "And the next time you barge into my house, shouting orders at me like I'm your lapdog, I will kill you."

Lindsey shuddered. 'I will hurt you like I'm hurting the woman before I'll consider killing you', is what he read in the vampire's soulless eyes. That little voice of doubt hiding in Lindsey's heart moaned miserably.

*********************

They've been sitting with Gunn in shifts. Angel's shift was almost over. He was tired. He hadn't slept at all in the last three days. When Cordelia or Wesley relieved him, he either went to the alley where he found Gunn to try and find some little clue as to who did this, or he disappeared into his office at the Hyperion and poured over the dusty old volumes in his extensive library, trying to find out what spell Ma'hlak might have cast. 

The others thought they understood why he felt so guilty over what happened to Gunn, but they didn't. Not really. Hell, he didn't even understand it properly, but he kept feeling like this was his fault, that he was guilty of this crime. And that's not possible, right? So he researched and he investigated and he watched and waited for Gunn to wake up.

"Angel," Cordelia whispered his name, lightly touching his shoulder. 

He jumped and looked at her with tired eyes. "Cordelia," he smiled and squeezed her hand still resting on his shoulder.

"You should get some sleep, Angel. You look terrible," she said worriedly.

"I will. When he wakes up." Angel looked at the still figure lying on the bed and slowly vacated the chair for Cordelia. He stretched. His body was sore from sitting in the same position all night, but the pain felt good. It felt real.

Cordelia sighed, "Well, if you're going to sleep, at least eat something. You need your strength. Well, that and you're starting to remind me a little of Kate Moss around the eyes."

Angel couldn't help but chuckle. Cordelia has been his rock. He didn't know what he would do without her. His heart contracted with the love he felt for the dark-haired beauty. She was the sister he'd once had and lost, and he wouldn't lose her too. 

Cordelia squealed surprisedly when Angel pulled her into his powerful arms and hugged her. She smiled against his shoulder and returned the hug with all her strength. 

"Go," she said, quietly ushering Angel out of the hospital room. "I'll call if there's any change."

Angel paused in the doorway and looked back at the tired young woman easing herself into the chair he was occupying not five minutes before. A strange thought crawled over his mind, 'I bet her blood would be sweet as syrup.' 

He frowned, shaken to his core at the excitement that rose in his belly at the thought of sinking his fangs into her slender neck, and hurried out of the hospital and away from temptation as fast as he could. 

In his dark study, Angelus grinned with pleasure. "Cordelia," he purred, his voice dripping venom.

The dark figure rose and walked out of the study, heading for the cells located in the basement of the mansion. It was time to vacate his favourite cell for its new occupant.

7 

Kate was shivering. Her hair and what was left of her clothes were soaked again. It seemed her captor liked hurting her to the point where she soils herself, but disapproved of her sitting in her own filth. At least her vision's returned. It's not all back, but she can live with blurry halos.

Her eyes fell on the table with its grim little inventory of bloody implements. That was her blood, her skin, her flesh drying into the wood. She dropped her eyes, tears creeping down her cheeks, burning where their salty tracks crossed the paper-fine cuts on her face, and shivered harder. Maybe being blind wasn't so bad after all. Maybe not living would be good too.

"How are we doing this morning?" 

Kate's eyes flew open. She tried to shrink back from the leaning figure in the cell doorway, whimpering in utter terror. 'What more can he do to me?' her mind cried out. 'Oh God! Let me die! I can't… not again… the pain…'

Her whimpers increased in volume. Angelus laughed at his cowering little rabbit chained in her cage. 

A gut wrenching sob escaped Kate's throat as she wailed, "Oh God! No, please… no more! Why are you doing this to me?!"

The question seemed to amuse Angelus to no end. Evil malice lit his eyes and smile when he answered, "Why? Because I can. Because I want to." He strolled over to Kate, making her shrink back even more for fear of another beating. If she could, she would melt into the wall at her back. 

Angelus kneeled down beside her and said, "Can I tell you a secret? I've dreamt of this for months. Every snide remark that rolled off that delicious little tongue of yours," He placed a light kiss on Kate's quivering lips. "Every frozen glance from these pretty eyes." Kate jerked, clamping her eyes shut as Angelus traced the line of her face down around her cheekbone, barely touching the dark lashes wet with her tears. "I wanted to teach you some respect, teach you the consequences of your actions. And now I finally have the opportunity. So, tell me, my dear. Are you learning yet?"

Kate sucked in her breath in pain when her dark captor's long fingers clenched around her jaw. She tasted fresh blood in her mouth from where the insides of her mouth got cut on her teeth. Then Angelus forced his tongue into her mouth, violating her, tasting her blood. He opened fresh cuts in her gums and on her tongue with his razor sharp fangs, and sucked on the wounds. 

Kate started to buck under his pressing weight. She was fast suffocating from lack of oxygen. Dark spots were crawling over her eyes. She was passing out. If he didn't stop soon, she wouldn't wake up. 

Angelus tasted the panic in her blood, and grinned when he released her. Suffocation was not how he planned on killing her, but the adrenaline made the blood oh so very sweet.

Kate gasped, choked on some blood and spat. She slumped forward. Only her pinned arms kept her from falling. With great effort, she lifted her head to look at Angelus, a spark of anger flashing up at the vampire. She spat again, her aim perfect. The red-tinged spittle slowly dribbled down the toe of Angelus's boot.

Fury surged through Angelus. 'The insolence of this creature!', he thought growling. His foot snapped out and caught Kate just under her chin. Hard. Her head whipped back and slammed into the wall with a wet crunch. The whites of her eyes rolled up in her sockets and she slumped down again. Unconscious.

The wish flittered across Kate's mind just before the blackness claimed her again. She prayed to die before she woke, because she knew there would be a universe of hell to pay for what she did. Angelus's curses and angry footsteps out the room promised her that.

"Fucking BITCH!" Angelus ranted, storming up the stairs. He threw the door shut with such force, it splintered out of its bearings.

One of the Master vampire's minions yelped, startled, at the crash.

"Master…" he began. He didn't know what to say to calm the murderous glare burning in his Sire's eyes. He didn't have a chance to say anything more as he turned to dust under the wooden spoon sticking out of his chest.

"Anyone else have something to say!?" Angelus roared, his powerful voice booming through the mansion, reaching every one of his servants' ears. They looked at each other and ran. Only a suicidal fool would get in their Master's way now.

Joshua pushed his unbeating heart down his throat with great effort. How was he going to survive telling the enraged elder vampire that Gunn had woken up? 

'Maybe I can wait until he's calmed down a bit', he thought, but quickly discarded that idea. Angelus had ordered him to report immediately if Gunn's situation changed. If he didn't, his Creator will destroy him. He'll just stay far away from his Sire's fast and deadly hands. 

With a deep, in this case very needed, breath for courage, Joshua edged to Angelus's study door. He started to poke his head around the corner, but pulled it back quickly when a crystal decanter flew directly at it. He cringed when it crashed behind him. 'Maybe behind the door is just as good', Joshua decided.

"Ma-… ummm….. Master?" Joshua called, his voice sounding like a mouse squeak in his ears. "I…umm" he swallowed. His mouth had gone so dry his tongue kept sticking to the roof of his mouth. "I have news. Of Gunn, Sir." 

"Don't make me come out there after you, boy!" Angelus growled. 

He watched with grim amusement as his fledgling servant all but crawled into the office. At least this pup knows his place, Angelus thought sourly. 

"Report," he ordered.

Joshua jumped at Angelus's voice. He wouldn't raise his head to meet the elder vampire's eyes. 

Just keep it short and sweet and get your undead ass out of this office in one piece, he told himself and started to talk very fast. "Master, Gunn's awake. It happened about half an hour ago." 

When only silence met his ears, Joshua risked a peek out from under his brow. Angelus was staring at the curtains guarding them from the poisonous sun, not moving. 'I did say that out loud, didn't I?' Joshua wondered. 

"Sir?" he called carefully.

"Do they all know?"

"Sir?" Joshua asked confusedly.

"Cordelia. Wesley. Angel. Do they all know? Are they all there now?" Angelus explained, his irritation rising again.

"Yes, Lord. The Watcher arrived just as I left. But your Other wasn't with him. He's not there yet."

A malicious smile creeped over Angelus's dark features. "Perfect," he purred. "Go back to the hospital. Watch them. I want to know the second Angel shows up at the hospital. Don't let me down, Joshua. You've done so well up until now. I would hate to have to destroy you now."

Joshua nodded furiously and stumbled-scrambled-leapt-ran out of the study to do his Master's bidding. 

Angelus started for the dungeons again, purpose and urgency in his forceful stride. It was time to stop teasing Kate, and get down to the business of killing her.

The massive vampire burst into Kate's cell. She was still slumped over and blood was slowly trickling down her arm and chest from the scalp laceration where her head had hit the wall and cut under her chin. 

"Wakey wakey, Sleeping Beauty!" Angelus called with renewed glee and stuck the cattle prod to the sensitive underside of her bare foot.

The smell of sizzling flesh filled the room. Kate jerked up and away, fully awake and awash in the pain pulsing through her foot up to her splitting skull. She groaned, but quickly swallowed the sound for fear of being kicked again. Or worse.

"I come bearing good news, dear heart. Your young friend from the alley is not dead," Angelus declared with a sweeping gesture that made Kate flinch.

"Gunn?" Kate asked, not believing, not daring to believe that the only person who knew she was here with this monster, might be alive and able to tell. 

Angelus swept in close to her face, their noses nearly touching. "Yes," he said. "Gunn. Alive. Able to tell your knight in shining fangs where to find you, where to save you."

He planted a quick, hard kiss on her bruised lips and swirled away, continuing, "Of course, he probably won't be too happy to see our soulful buddy. Seeing as how "Angel" did try to kill him and all. But I'm sure your presence at the scene will come up between accusations and staking attempts."

Kate's heart beat harder and harder in her chest with every word, the hope flaring from a dull ember to a raging bonfire in her soul. Maybe, just maybe, she will get out of this with her life, she dared to think.

Angelus was picking up and discarding tools off his little table of torture all the while, testing each tool in his hand before picking up the next.

"Yes, your heroes are probably scurrying around right now, beating up every snitch in the city limits to find out where I am, where you are…" Angelus mused, his back turned to Kate. "They'll be charging in to rescue you by nightfall tonight by my educated guess."

Kate was trembling with the thought, the hope, the promise of rescue. She was getting out of here. She was getting out of here alive and in one piece.

"Too bad you won't be able to see it," he said venomously and turned back to her, his toy of choice glinting in the light. 

Kate's attention was drawn to the shiny metal in the leering vampire's hand. Cold stole over her mind and leaked into her nerves. She felt the hope in her heart squashed and replaced with numbing fear, her eyes locked on the extractor in Angelus's hand.

She'd seen the tool before. And she knew its purpose. Kate ripped her gaze away from the vicious blades to Angelus's face, and read the horrible truth there. He was going to take her eyes, just pluck them from her sockets in the most painful way possible.

"Nononononono…." Kate begged. 

She whipped her head from side to side in furious denial. Blood sprayed over the wall from her reopened head wound. Angelus advanced on her with panther-like grace. Kate started to kick out wildly, trying desperately to ward him off. She ignored the pain that knifed through her body from her shoulder that Angelus had dislocated the previous day.

"NONONONONONO…" she cried, kicking at him, seeking purchase, but finding none. 

Angelus easily sidestepped her flying legs and caught them deftly to his side. He jerked his body sideways in one fluid movement, and grunted his satisfactory as twin snaps sounded out.

Kate shrieked in agony when her oddly bent legs hit the floor, useless. Angelus stepped up to her, straddling her, and nimbly caught her face in his left hand, holding her utterly immobile against the wall.

Kate wanted more than anything in her life to close her eyes, but the light reflecting off the cruel blades held her wide-eyed stare. She pleaded with Angelus to stop, please stop. Don't do this. No, please. Oh God, no! PLEASE NO!

"Such pretty eyes," Angelus remarked and slid the extractor's blades into her flesh.

Kate's wails grew in louder with every inch of the implement's path. Loud when the skin was broken, louder when the eye's protective lid stretched and tore free, loudest when the intensifying fire in her eye burst to heretofore-unknown levels of torture, when panic gave way for rushing insanity. 

Angelus laughed merrily at the sound of the shrill keening notes issuing forth from the blonde woman's throat. 

Kate's howls reverberated through the mansion, bouncing off walls, finding ears to bear witness to her pain, her insanity.

Lindsey's blood froze in his veins at the terrible screams boring into his ears. 

"What have I done?" he asked the empty foyer, horrified. He didn't want to imagine what his monster… Yes, his monster, Lindsey admitted to his cringing soul. This was all his doing. Her blood, her sanity was on his hands. He had let that _thing_ loose on the world, foolishly under the impression that he could control him. 

"How could I have been so stupid? So very blind?" he wondered, running from the house. "I couldn't control him when he had a soul. What made me think I could control him when he had no restraint at all?" The questions raced through his mind as he raced down the streets away from the mansion, from those inhuman wails.

Lindsey's car drowned out the sudden silence as deep beneath the great structure Angelus slid his hand from Kate's eyeless face to her throat. His perfectly kept nails found purchase around her larynx. He applied a little pressure and felt the skin break and give way under his fingertips. 

Kate still screamed when he slid his long bloodstained fingers into her throat and closed his fist around the opposing flesh of her windpipe. The instant silence was broken by a wet splat, Angelus dropping Kate's severed larynx on the floor next to her graying body as the last of her life's blood escaped through the empty pits where her eyes used to be and the gaping rip under her chin. 

Footsteps bounced back to Angelus's ringing ears. She had a pair of lungs on her, he mused and dropped his prize into their little jar. 

"Pretty eyes indeed," he said to the silence and smiled.

8

Cordelia launched herself into Wesley's arms. He planted his feet solidly and caught her firm lithe figure, gathering her close to him.

"He's going to be okay," Cordelia sniffled. "Gunn's awake and he's going to be okay."

"Thank God," Wesley breathed into Cordy's hair. "Has Angel arrived yet?"

Cordelia untangled herself from her friend's arms. "No, not yet. He was just leaving Caritas when I called, so he should be here soon."

A shadow crossed the young Englishman's face as he studied Gunn's gaunt face. He whispered, "He still looks so weak."

"I know," Cordelia whispered worriedly. "The doctors say he's going to make a full recovery, but it's going to take time."

A hand fell on their shoulders. 

"How is he?" Angel asked quietly, not wanting to disturb his young friend's slumber.

Cordelia lifted her hand to Angel's face, tried to smooth away the worry lines etched deep into his cold brow, and said, "He's going to be fine."

"I'm sorry, but we'll have to limit Mr Gunn's visit to five minutes. He is still very weak, and we don't want to overstimulate him right now," the doctor in charge of Gunn's care said from behind them.

Angel maneuvered the doctor into the hall away from the open door, still speaking softly. "When will he be released?"

"Not for a few days at least. Mr Gunn will be kept here for observation …."

Wesley tuned out his boss's conversation with the doctor at focused on a slowly awakening Gunn. He and Cordelia tiptoed to their pale friend's bedside, calling his name softly.

Gunn groaned. His surroundings swimmed into focus before his eyes, and he smiled at the sight of the young brunette and the lanky Englishman scrunching their faces with worry.

"Hi," he croaked.

Cordelia grabbed a cup of water off the bedside counter and held it for Gunn to drink. He frowned at the tightness in his throat. It hurt to swallow.

'But what did he expect?' Gunn thought frustratedly. The memory of having his throat caught in a vise grip, the pain as his jugular tore open, the thundering roar of his departing blood in his ears… He remembered everything and shuddered. 

Wesley's question cut into his reverie. "Your attacker? Who was it? Can you describe him?"

"What?" Gunn asked, confusion clearly written on his still-ashen face. 'Didn't they know?' he wondered. 'How could they not know that Angel ……'

All thoughts left Gunn's head. The beeping monitors hooked to him started going crazy as his heart thumped faster and faster in his heaving chest. He tried to cry out, but only squeaks escaped his lips. His eyes screamed where his voice couldn't.

Cordelia and Wesley whipped their eyes from Gunn to the monitors to each other and back to Gunn, their terror and confusion mirror images of one another.

"What? What's wrong?" Cordelia cried.

She was shoved aside by the doctor. "Please! You all have to leave. Now. You can come back later when your friend's calmed down."

Wesley raised his shocked eyes to the tall vampire standing in the shadow of the doorway, reading the shock and understanding on his face. He lowered his eyes back to the mask of terror that's now covering the young black man's face and swung them back to Angel. 

Before any of them could utter a word, they were all deposited into the hall by the invading doctors, nurses and orderlies.

"What the hell was that all about?" Cordelia asked shrilly. Her hands were shaking.

Wesley still stared at his employer, waiting for the elder man to speak first, to explain.

"It's me," Angel said, shock registering in his deep voice. 

Shock and … was that admittance? Wesley wondered.

"I don't - I can't be here. I'll meet you at the Hyperion." Angel didn't look at the two people. He didn't have answers for the questions their glances were asking. He didn't understand the answers his mind was forming to their questions. He left an astounded Cordelia and Wesley gaping at his billowy-coat exit.

A loud crash marked Cordelia and Wesley's arrival at Angel Investigation's offices.

"Just shut up, Wesley!" a very angry feminine voice echoed through the building. "Gunn was confused. That's all! He saw Angel standing in the shadows, remembered the attack and associated Angel's vampireness with his attacker. He was scared of a vampire, not Angel!"

A British accent answered, "He knows the difference between a vampire and Angel. And he saw Angel! He didn't associate with anything. Besides, I saw Angel's face. He all but admitted it was him!"

Cordelia turned on Wesley in a fury and snarled, "Angel didn't do this! He's the good guy, remember? Battles the minions of evil? We've helped him do it?"

Wesley took a breath to counter the fiery woman's arguments, but Cordelia cut him off, "If you say he tried to kill Gunn again, I swear I will hit you into next Tuesday!"

She spun on her heel and stormed off to the offices behind the reception counter.

Wesley followed her, continuing the argument even though Cordelia clearly signaled its end, "And I'm not saying Angel did try to kill Gunn!"

"Yes you are!!!"

"Alright, I am! It wouldn't be the first time for Angel to turn on his friends. He's been acting very strange lately. Admit it! Haven't you even wondered if maybe, just maybe…?"

"No! I haven't! Unlike you, I trust my friend and employer."

"And you think I don't?!"

"ENOUGH!"

The arguing couple snapped their mouths shut at the furious bellow resounding from the top of the stairs. They watched as Angel thundered down the stairs to where they were standing.

"Angel, it's not…"

"We didn't mean…"

The vampire's icy stare made the stammering two swallow their words. 

"I don't want to hear it. Now I am going to say this once and then it'll be done. I did not attack Gunn. I did not try to kill Gunn. Got it?" he growled. 

The ex-Watcher and ex-cheerleader dropped their eyes, cheeks flaming red under their undead boss's withering glare. They nodded, mumbling that they got it.

"Good. Since we're all in agreement, let's find out why Gunn would be under the impression that I did attack him," Angel said, calm again. "Wesley, have you…"

"He's under the impression you attacked him, because you did."

The staff of Angel Investigations jumped at the voice coming from the courtyard. 

No-one even saw Angel move until he had Lindsey dangling in the air by his throat, a low growl emanating from behind his exposed fangs.

"Lindsey," Angel said, and squeezed the lawyer's badly bruised neck enough to make him wince.

"You want to know what happened to your young friend," Lindsey croaked. "I have answers. But first you'll have to let go."

The vampire looked at the lawyer suspiciously. "Okay, talk," he said and dropped Lindsey unceremoniously on his butt.

Lindsey sat on the floor, looking up at the ensouled vampire he spent so much time trying to destroy and rubbing his neck. He shook his head and mumbled as he got up, "So different and yet so very alike. Scary."

"What are you mumbling about?" Angel asked irritably. Lindsey was the last person he wanted to see now.

Lindsey glanced at him, one brow cocked. "You even sound alike when you're pissed."

Angel was fast loosing his temper again. He didn't have time for games. "Who? Look, Lindsey, I'm having a bad day, and if you're going to waste my time by talking in circles, I'm just going to beat you to a bloody pulp and get rid of some of my tension."

Lindsey held up his hands in defeat. He sighed. "Okay, okay. Just hang on now. Can we perhaps go into your office to talk?" He eyed the two statues staring at the little soap drama unfolding before their unbelieving eyes, indicating the need for privacy.

Angel nodded, standing aside for Lindsey to take the lead. "Wesley," he called over his shoulder, jarring the stunned Englishman into action. 

"Take it or leave it," Angel said when Lindsey frowned. Lindsey just shrugged and walked into Angel's office. Right now he needed this vampire on his side. It would be stupid to cross him.

Angel settled his muscular bulk behind his desk, resting his feet on the desk's edge. He looked at Lindsey, who seemed very uncomfortable and very nervous, and waited.

Lindsey pulled in a deep breath and held it. How was he going to tell his enemy what he'd done without getting killed? 

"I need you to help me stop someone," the lawyer said.

"Who?"

Lindsey laughed at the question. The hilarity and horror of the situation was just too much. "You," he said and swallowed a laugh that wanted to turn into a sob.

"I don't understand," Wesley said, confused. "You want Angel to stop himself?"

Lindsey nodded into his hands. He sighed and told his story.

"We… um… Wolfram & Hart… we have been trying to get rid of Angel for so long." He raised his eyes and spoke exclusively to the vampire across from him.

"You were always getting in the way. We tried to bring you over to our side, but every plan we could come up with failed. You saw to that. But then a luck fell into my lap. A wizard came to town."

"Ma'hlak," Angel stated.

Lindsey nodded. "Yeah. He said he could ensure that you wouldn't interfere with… that you wouldn't interfere. He cast a spell that called the Gods' Lightning. It was supposed to kill you, but I should have known you wouldn't die that easily."

Wesley interrupted, "The Gods' Lightning? I've heard of it, but…"

"It's a separation spell. You know, Ying from yang, man from woman, light from dark?"

Angel moved uncomfortably in his seat. He had a very bad feeling he knew where this was headed.

Lindsey caught Angel's eye, seeing the understanding blooming in the dark, soulful depths. How different their eyes are, he mused and said out loud, "Ma'hlak said that the spell would divide your being. The demon from the soul. And once the demon in you was removed… um… set free, your body, being 250 years old, would die. But that didn't happen. Instead, the demon divided. My guess is that your soul wasn't about to give up so easily and grabbed onto a part of the immortal being to keep itself alive. 

Anyway, Ma'hlak took Angelus to a safe place after the separation. I thought…"

"Angelus?!" Wesley and Cordelia (who had been listening at the door) cried, effectively stopping Lindsey's words.

The lawyer's head whipped up. "Yes. Angelus," he explained. "That's what the separation spell did. It…"

"Are you INSANE!?" Cordelia shouted. She jabbed her finger at Angel, who hasn't said anything about this yet, and shouted some more, "Do you have ANY idea what he did the last time he went evil?! He's a fucking psycho without his soul!"

The brunette flashed a quick glance at Angel and amended, "No offence."

"None taken," Angel said neutrally.

Lindsey couldn't sit anymore. He started pacing, his agitation showing. 

"I know!" he exclaimed. "I thought Ma'hlak and I could control him."

Angel's derisive laugh shut him up again. 

"Control?" Angel snorted. "You thought you could control me? Him?… Us? Whatever! You have all these records on me before and after I was cursed. Tell me, Lindsey. Where, in all those files of yours, is it recorded that I followed orders? Ever? _I_ was the Master. _Not_ the servant. I'm sure Darla told you that. You are a bigger fool than I thought possible."

"I was wrong, okay! Is that what you want to hear?" Lindsey cried, close to tears. "He's crazy, and I can't stop him. I don't know how."

Cordelia chipped in, "Well duh! What did you think? It would be easy to shut him down?" A ringing sounded. Angel caught his Girl Friday's eye, nodding to the reception area. "Fine, I'll go see who it is," she said, turning on her heel and stalking off.

The vampire turned his attention back to the deflated lawyer slouching in his chair again. "Is there a counter spell that can undo the separation?"

Lindsey shook his head, not raising his face from his hands. "Once it's done, it can't be undone. Angelus has to be killed. But there's a problem." The deep breath Lindsey took for the next lot of bad news brought him upright in his chair. "You're connected to him. With the demon. He can kill you with no adverse effects, but if Angelus dies, the demon dies. And since it's the demon in you that's keeping you alive…"

Wesley finished for Lindsey, not liking the words coming from his mouth one bit. "Angel will die."

Silence descended on the office, but was short lived as Cordelia's blood freezing scream cut through it. The three men rushed out to investigate.

"In there…! Oh my God!" Cordelia sobbed, tears streaking down her sheet white face. 

She was pointing a violently shaking hand at a package on the reception desk. It was made up with shiny red gift wrapping, the black bow that sealed it lying beside it.

Angel peered inside cautiously. He inhaled sharply at the sight of their "gift".

"Oh God! Kate," he breathed, not able to pull his eyes from the human head gaping up at him, blonde hair streaked with blood, gaping eye sockets locking his stare.

Wesley cleared his throat and read the card that came with, "Be seeing you, brother."

The shaken vampire steeled himself against the horror in the box. "Did you know? Did you know he had her?"

Lindsey blanched at the fury in Angel's voice. "Yes, I did," he squeaked. "I didn't know he would kill her. I heard her …."

Angel's crushing hand around his throat cut the words off. He growled, vamping out, "You knew?! You knew what he was doing to her, and did nothing?!"

"Angel," Wesley said, placing a restraining hand on his arm. He felt the rage flow through Angel's arm like a live current, but the vampire managed to reign in the demon wrenching at its chains.

Lindsey began to weep uncontrollably, sinking to the floor in a miserable heap.

"I will take care of Angelus," Angel hissed through his exposed fangs. "I will clean up your mess. You got what you wanted – my help. Now get out."

Lindsey swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump blocking his voice. "But he'll know I was here! He'll kill me!"

"If you don't leave right now, he won't have to." There was murder in Angel's golden eyes. He wanted to kill the sniveling little shit-for-brains with every cell in his being. And from the looks on his colleagues' faces, he wasn't alone.

"You heard the man," Cordelia sneered. "Get out."

Lindsey peered at the three people in front of him, his only hope, and saw only hatred radiating from them.

"I'm sorry," he said, echoing the feelings crushing his heart and soul, and stumbled out the only sanctuary he had to meet his destiny.

9

"What do we do?" Wesley asked, awaiting orders to jump into action and battle the new evil.

Angel squared his shoulders and faced his colleagues. "I go deal with my demons once and for all."

"No! You'll die!" Cordelia squealed, holding up her perfectly manicured hands to stop her boss. She turned pleading brown eyes to Wesley and said, "Wesley? Do something."

The ex-Watcher didn't need any encouragement. "Cordelia's right. If you kill Angelus, you'll die. We can find another way to…"

"No," Angel interrupted. "He has to be stopped before more innocent people die. Again." 

The unbidden memory of ravaging his young link to the Powers, of drinking in her fear and draining that very proud and brilliant life force with the powerful blood coursing through her veins, surfaced in his mind, making him shudder. He turned away from his friends. He didn't want them to see the want, the hunger burning in his dark eyes.

Wesley's accented voice broke through his thoughts, "Angel, it wasn't you who attacked Gunn and killed Kate."

"Wasn't it?" Angel asked, guilt colouring his rich voice. "I may not have done it physically, but Angelus and I… we're still the same person. We're linked to one another through this demon infesting my body. And if finally ridding the world of this demon means my death, then so be it. Maybe that will make up for all the wrongs I've done in my life."

Tears were forming in Cordelia's eyes again, making them seem black. "I don't accept that," she said defiantly, choking back a sob. "The Prophecy said you would get to live and die as a human, not die as one 5 seconds after saving the world. They can't be cruel."

"Cordelia…" 

Angel didn't know how to comfort the young woman now hugging him so tightly to herself. He didn't want to think about his disappointment or all the dreams he had of living out a normal mortal life dashed. So he held her and drew from the strength she offered him.

Stepping out of the Seer's embrace, Angel said, "We don't have a lot of time. By now, he knows that Lindsey has betrayed him and he'll be coming for us. First thing we do is move Gunn to a safe location."

Wesley, who's been gathering together weapons for the coming battle, stilled his movements and asked, "You think Angelus will go after Gunn again?"

"I would," Angel said with finality, grabbing his fighting axe and leading the team out back to the car.

*********************

A dark figure skulked in Gunn's hospital room door. A nurse, pretty and perky in her white uniform, spotted the watching shadow.

"He's fine. This morning's episode didn't cause any damage. He'll be sleeping for a while though. Perhaps you can visit him later when he's awake again?" she said in her soft 'comforting-and-reassuring-the-family' voice. 

Angelus smiled his most sincere 'I'm-so-worried-about-my-friend' smile. Having a soul for a hundred years really paid off for faking these good guy expressions, he thought. 

His heated glance took in her naturally blonde hair, her ample bosom and the way her spotless uniform strained against their fullness. He let his gaze linger on that spot on her throat where the neck meets the shoulder. His vampiric senses could discern every ebb and flow of the wondrous blood being pushed and pulled by her living heart. He was hungry.

The nurse never had a chance to utter one yelp before Angelus thrust his fangs onto the spot he was studying so carefully just a second before. He shuddered with pleasure as the hot fluid burned over his tongue down his throat and into every cell throughout his being. 

The sound of her body hitting the tile roused Gunn from his nightmares, only to find himself face to face with the very demon that played a starring role in every one. He registered the pile of dead human remains lying in his doorway. My turn, he knew. As if reading his mind, Angelus smiled. 

Slowly, the massive vampire walked into the room, letting the door whisper shut behind him. "I'm impressed, young one. Not many mortals could survive a draining like yours," Angelus commented. "Maybe it would be worthwhile to turn you instead of killing you. You have great potential."

Fire blazed in Gunn's eyes when he spat, "Over my dead body!"

"That's the point, kid!" Angelus laughed, sitting down on the bed's foot. 

The bed shifted under the darkly clad immortal's weight, but Gunn quickly balanced it out by scooting back against the head board. He wanted to be as far from this monster as he can get.

Angelus sighed. He loved playing the cat to Gunn's mouse, but unfortunately time wasn't on his side anymore. He could feel the Other growing closer.

"I wish I had time to draw this out, but alas time is not my friend tonight," he lamented. With a loud growl, the vampire pinned the young black man to the pillows and visciously ripped into his throat.

Gunn cried-gasped. The pain grew as the fiend at his throat clamped down harder on his flesh, seeking deeper entry, and then… No pain. No teeth. No vampire. 

The deathly pale young man opened his eyes, surprised that the demon would leave him alive (again), and did a double-take at what he was seeing. It must be the medication on top of the blood loss, Gunn thought wildly, still trying to get his eyes to see only one Angel.

"Get Gunn out of here!" Angel ordered, struggling to hold his twin off.

Angelus let loose a great roar and brought his knee up into his Other's midsection. Angel hissed when he felt his ribs break, and returned the favour by crashing his elbow into Angelus's nose, breaking it in short order.

The two let go of one another, circling each other. Growls escaped bared fangs, muscles tensing as the two powerful creatures prepared to pounce.

"Did you like the little gift I sent you, Brother?" Angelus sneered.

Anger and hatred flared in Angel's amber eyes, making them flash golden. "You'll pay for what you did to Kate," Angel growled at his soulless twin. "And you are not my brother. You are nothing to me, but another demon that needs killing."

Angelus grabbed Angel, forcing himself right up into Angel's face. "Fool! You think you can deny me? I am you!" 

"No, you're not. You are an abomination!" Angel spat back in his demon's face. "You take pleasure in the destruction of innocence. I don't."

Angelus laughed contemptuously and said, "That soul has made you a good liar, Brother. Let me show you the truth."

Angel jerked in Angelus's grip, images flooding his mind. He tried to dislodge his Other, but Angelus just tightened his grip, hissing, "Can you feel it?" Images of Gunn growing weaker, images of Kate howling, the smell of flesh burning as red-hot needles are forced under her fingernails. "The power of another's life… yours to break and take at will." Images of a hundred… a thousand faces begging to be spared. "The pleasure of distinguishing hope in a mortal's eyes." Images of Cordelia… her neck exposed, ready to be taken, ready to be drained. "The hunger for living blood burning its way through your body, awakening every nerve it touches. Deny what you are! Deny it with your vampire eyes, with your fangs itching in your mouth! I dare you."

Angel was shaking in the evil vampire's hand. The link between them was ripping him apart from the inside. The demon still in him howled to be fed, to be sated, but he fought it down. With great mental effort he reasserted the soul's human features over the demon and said, "I deny the demon." He brought his free hand out from beneath his coat. "It will never harm another living soul again."

Angelus noted the movement from the corner of his eye. He saw the stake in his soulful Other's hand and smirked, "You don't have the guts to kill me. I die, you die. Remember?"

"I will see you in Hell, Brother. Where we belong," Angel said determinedly and lunged the stake at his twin's heart.

Angelus blocked the lunge. The two vampires wrestled for possession of the deadly piece of wood when the world started shaking, throwing the fighting men into opposite walls.

Cordelia cried out and grabbed for her head as a vision tore into her mind. She fell to the floor. Angel automatically moved towards her, wanting to ease her pain while the vision plays out behind her hazel eyes. He stopped, eyeing Angelus getting to his feet. 

The evil version of himself was grabbing onto whatever he could to keep himself upright while the floor undulated beneath his feet. "What to do? What to do?" Angelus mocked. "Do I stay with my pretty Seer to fight the new evil being force fed to her by the Powers? Or do I stop my evil lookalike from killing every human that ever meant anything to me?"

"AAANNNNGGGEEELLL!!!!"

Cordelia's terrified, painfilled wail decided for Angel. He rushed to her side, pulling her in close to him to shield her from debris sifting down on her.

"This isn't over," Angel called after the fast-disappearing Angelus.

Angelus just laughed and threw over his shoulder, "Later, Soulboy! I'll give the Slayer your regards."

Angel closed his eyes against the guilt knifing through his unbeating heart. He scooped up the dark-haired beauty in his arms and weaved his way out of the shaking building.


	2. 

10

The black convertible flew out of the hospital parking structure, barely missing the falling concrete debris starting to rain down in earnest. With vampiric speed and agility, Angel maneuvered the car through the panicked LA traffic, kissing a bumper here and there to miss a ambling pedestrian. He had to get them to safety. Then he could start to worry about Cordelia's vision and his demon made flesh.

Angel finally brought the car to a halt at the top of a fabulous lookout point. Nothing was above them except the night sky.

"Is everybody okay?" he asked, turning to inspect his passengers for signs of injury.

The natural blush had leaked out of Cordelia's face, and it hurt when she blinked, but she nodded carefully. Wesley also nodded. He was holding Cordelia against him and didn't want to hurt her by talking close to her ear. Gunn shied back behind Wesley's shoulder, uncertainty and distrust clear in his eyes, but he didn't seem the worse for wear.

The worried Englishman carefully handed Cordelia into Gunn's arms and followed Angel out of the car.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked.

The shaken vampire ran his hands through his hair, pacing a little to work off the nervous energy still zinging up and down his spine. He pulled in deep breaths, exhaling slowly. If I had a heartbeat, it would be running away with me right about now, Angel mused.

"How's Cordelia?" Angel asked.

Concern tugged at Wesley's mouth as he answered, "She's hurting, but she'll be alright. It was a bad one." 

"And Gunn? Did you explain about… him?"

"I tried, but he was a bit manic as you can imagine. And the earthquake didn't help matters. Maybe you should talk to him?"

Angel nodded, his eyes lowered in thought. He looked out over his city. It lay in ruins.

"The big one," he said softly, more to himself than to Wesley. "We have work to do," Angel said, louder this time and strode back to the convertible.

Cordelia was slowly getting out of the car. She swayed a bit when a dizzy spell washed over her, clenching at her stomach. Angel put his strong, protective arms around her to steady her until the nausea passed.

"I'm okay," she said unsteadily. "Or I will be if I can just get someone to rip my head off. Have I ever told you how much I hate these damn visions?"

Angel smiled in spite of himself. Yes, she'll be fine, he knew. 

"What did you see?" Wesley asked from behind Angel's shoulder.

Cordelia locked eyes with Angel. His relieved smile died in the horror written on her face. She said, "The end. I saw the end of the world. Angel, I don't know what we're going to do to stop it, but we have to try. There was so much…." A single tear escaped down the Seer's cheek. "I felt the world die."

Tenderly, Angel caught the tear with the pad of his thumb. "We will," he said. "I promise."

"What about Angelus?" Wesley interrupted.

"Armageddon first. Then I'll take care of him," Angel said resolvedly. He prayed that Angelus didn't do too much damage in the meantime.

*********************

"Ma'hlak!" 

Angelus was fast loosing his temper. The mansion, besides being all but destroyed by the earthquake, was completely devoid of life. All his minions were gone. 

"Cowards!" he fumed. "Afraid of a little shaking! I'll teach them something to be afraid of!"

A loud crash punctuated the vampire's furious roar as he swiped a chair against the opposite wall. "MA'HLAK!!!"

A pile of rubble moaned. Angelus frowned, sniffing the air. A cruel smirk pulled at his mouth and he started to uncover his after-shaker party gift. 

"Well, look what we have here," the vampire cooed. 

Lindsey rolled his head up to the voice, but couldn't focus. He felt like the voice was echoing to him through a water barrier. He couldn't lift his head. His body felt numb. He moaned again.

"Oh, come on, Lindsey! Don't conk out now. It's no fun if you're not screaming," Angelus goaded the unconscious man.

"I'm afraid that won't do any good," Ma'hlak said from behind the kneeling vampire. "The tranquilizer will keep the human sedated for a while yet."

Anger boiled up in Angelus. He hated initiative when he didn't order it. 

"And why, pray tell, did you sedate him?" he asked irritably.

"I find an unconscious body easier to transport than a moving, struggling one," Ma'hlak answered Angelus. The windy click of an airgun sounded and the dart found its mark in Angelus's exposed throat.

Angelus roared mightily and charged his traitorous servant, but the drug was too powerful. His great bulk thundered to the floor and was still as death. Angelus was dead to the world.

"Hurry. Get them to the van," Ma'hlak ordered.

Angelus' other mutinous minions scurried out from the shadows, quickly immobilizing their unconscious master and carried the vampire and human to the waiting vehicle outside.

****************************

"In my vision I saw three guys strung up against some wall. I could make out their faces, but they had marks on them. Like this." Cordelia drew three symbols on the yellow legal pad and passed it to Wesley and Angel. 

Wesley took the pad and studied the symbols. "They look familiar. I will go through my books and see if I can find their origins," he said.

Angel handed the Brit a very old volume, saying, "The symbols are Runic. The first is the symbol for evil, The Corruptor. The second is for impurity, The Corrupted and the third is for good, The Innocent."

"That would make sense," Cordelia said excitedly. She pointed to the third drawing, "I think the guy with this mark is one of the Holy Triumbrid."

Angel got up and started pacing the wrecked lobby of the Hyperion. "Do you know where they were?" he asked the Seer.

"I'm not sure," she replied, squinting her eyes to better remember her vision. "It felt familiar, though. Like I've been there before. It was definitely underground. Of that I am sure."

"Oh dear," Wesley said in that unique Watcher way that always means trouble of the worst kind. "I've located a ritual that requires three male sacrifices bearing Cordelia's symbols."

"And…" Angel prodded.

"I'm afraid she's right. It is the end of the world. The ritual opens the our Hellmouth, expelling quite a few demon dimensions into our reality."

Cordelia frowned, asking, "What exactly do you mean 'expel'?"

Wesley took up Angel's pacing when the vampire sat down again. "In essence, it's the opposite of what Angel tried to do with the demon Acathla. Instead of us being sucked into Hell, Hell will come to us."

Cordelia sat down hard beside Angel and ran her hands through her dark hair. "I had to ask," she sighed.

"How do we stop it?" Gunn asked from the stairs, joining the conversation. Angel had explained to him about the spell that had brought forth Angelus, and he believed that Wesley and Cordelia wouldn't hang out with this version if he wasn't good, but he still kept his distance from Angel. Just to be safe.

Wesley scanned the ancient pages. "Um… Ah! Here it is," he exclaimed. "For the ritual to take place, the sacrifices must die at the opening of the Hellmouth. Or in it." The ex-Watcher frowned and explained, "The sacrifices must be within physically near or in the Hellmouth itself when they die. Most likely they will be thrown in, is my guess. Anyway, we just stop them from killing the sacrifices before sunrise and the Hellmouth will close and no Hell on Earth."

"Sounds simple enough," Gunn said, picking up Angel's fighting ax. "Let's go."

Cordelia jumped to her feet, halting the black man. "Now hold on there! We don't know where to go, remember? Unless you know where the Hellmouth opened, that is."

"Wolfram & Hart," Angel said with certainty. "In their sublevels. That's where it is."

It was Wesley's turn to frown. "How can you be so sure?" he asked.

"I can't explain it in so many words, but I've felt it. Like I felt the presence of the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. The demon in me is drawn to its power. Trust me. It's there," the vampire explained.

Gunn tossed the ax to Angel, who deftly caught it. "If the vamp says it's there, I say we saddle up. We got us a ritual to stop."

********************* 

Angelus awoke with a start. Pain shot through his back and his shoulders screamed in protest at the sudden movement forced through them. With a deafening roar, the pinned vampire pulled on the bonds that held him. Chains clattered, pulled taught. 

Every muscle over the magnificent male torso rippled under the strain as Angelus tried with all his strength to break free, but the chains held. He let loose another frustrated roar and redoubled his efforts.

"Save your strength," Ma'hlak advised. "The chains are enchanted and quite unbreakable."

"I am going to rip your guts out and hang you with them, you fuck!" Angelus spat, black rage bringing his true demon face to the surface. The chains rattled wildly under the vampire's lunge, cutting off his ability to follow through on his threat. 

"We're doomed," a voice laughed hysterically from Angelus's left. 

The chained vampire tried to identify the owner of the voice. He wanted to know whose ass he was going to kick. Now was not the time for hysterics. It was time for pulling heads off and pulling spines out through chests.

His fellow prisoner turned his face up to the light. Tears were slowly rolling down his face and he had an insane grin on his face when he said, "My daddy would be so proud!"

"Lindsey," Angelus roared. Perfect. Not only is he chained to a wall with unbreakable chains right next to a gaping pit that reeked of sulfur and rotting meat, he's chained next to this mewling Big-Bad don't-know-if-I-wannabe. "This is going to be fun", he grumbled.

He kicked the giggling lawyer in the groin, bringing him to his knees and shutting him up in quick order.

Lindsey gasped in pain, but the world pulled back into focus, the throbbing ache in his nether regions drying up his hysteria.

"Thanks," he wheezed. "I think."

"Not a problem," Angelus said. He felt a little better and allowed his human features to push forward again. 

Something on the lawyer's naked chest drew his attention, but Lindsey's slouch was blocking the vampire's view. Angelus kicked at Lindsey again and ordered, "Stand up straight, damn it!"

Lindsey was already in enough pain, so he decided to avoid more he would comply. He looked down his body at what had sparked such curiosity with his fellow prisoner, noticing for the first time the symbol drawn on his chest in what looked like blood.

"What the…?" 

"The Corrupted," Angelus said. Lindsey frowned at him questioningly and he answered, "It's the Runic symbol for impurity."

"And what's yours then? Evil?" Lindsey asked sarcastically.

Angelus followed the lawyer's gaze down his own body. He inspected the symbol covering his chiseled chest and nodded. "Yes, as a matter it is. I'm glad to see you recognize true evil when you see it," he threw back.

A gasping, boyish voice rambling off prayers drew the bantering men's attention to the third half-naked form chained with them. 

The voice sounded boyish, because it belonged to a young boy no older than fifteen. His thin chest heaved with each 'Our Father' uttered. He was shivering, terror pulling his boy's face into a grimace. The symbol painted on his deathly white chest glowed like a neon sign against the contrast of his colorless skin. His eyes were sunken and black, not seeing the two men beside him or the room around him. His panic had locked him away in his own mind where reality couldn't assault him anymore.

"Poor kid," Lindsey said sadly. "He shouldn't have to be exposed to this."

"Yeah, right. Poor kid," Angelus scoffed. "Like he's the only one chained to this fucking wall. Wake up, Lindsey. At least he doesn't even register what's going on around him. You, on the other hand, will feel every little thing as your crony over there guts you for his sacrifice."

Lindsey snarled at the vampire, "And what about you? You think you're going to get out of this with your undead skin still attached? At least you'll finally succeed in bringing about Armageddon. Too bad you won't be around to see it!"

Angelus and Lindsey lunged at each other, but was pulled up short when the enchanted chains yanked them back. 

Ma'hlak strolled over to his fighting sacrifices and chided, "I will have none of that. You will both die soon enough. Now play nice while I finish the preparations for the ceremony."

"You're going to pay for this, Ma'hlak. I promise," Angelus called after the exiting demon, struggling against the chains that were cutting into his wrists.

The chained boy's prayers wavered, grew louder, "Our Father who art in Heaven…"

"Oh, shut up!" Angelus snapped visciously and slumped against the wall. Where was that damned Goody-goody twin of his when he needed him?


	3. Enemy Without Chapter 11

11

Angel parked the GTX outside what was left of the building that housed Wolfram & Hart. The sky above them was clear. Stars winked down on the city for the first time in decades, the city itself covered in darkness only broken by fires not yet brought under control.

"We might not survive the night," Angel said, not looking at his armed companions. "If you don't want to go in there, I won't blame you. It's your choice."

Gunn cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully, "We've had our differences, you and I. Most of them over the last few days. But I trust you. I say we go kick some demon ass and save the world."

Cordelia cast her vote in typical Cordelia fashion. "Yeah, well, I've done this before. Helping to save the world, I mean. So let's just get on with it. And maybe the Powers will give me a break from their head crunching visions if I live through this." 

"After you," Wesley agreed, sparing his words for a change.

"Okay, then." Angel walked around the car, opened the boot and started distributing the weapons amongst them.

He handed Gunn a double-bladed ax and asked, "Are you sure you're up to this?"

Gunn took the ax, testing its weight. "Yeah, I'm good. Wesley fixed me up 100 %."

"Let's go already. Time's a-wasting," Cordelia interrupted, grabbing her trusty crossbow.

The group carefully picked their way through the rubble, finding an unblocked stairway leading down to the lower levels of the building.

"This passage has been cleared," Gunn remarked. "You think we might find some traffic?"

Angel tensed suddenly, bringing the team to a halt. One fluid upward swipe of his sword separated the hidden demon from his head. The separated pieces fell to the vampire's feet from its hiding place on the ceiling. "I think we might," Angel answered wryly and started to move again.

********************* 

"Why don't you just give it up? You've poked and prodded and yanked and banged on those chains with no result other than driving me up this damn wall!" Lindsey complained. He sat, resting his head against the wall he was chained to, his hands dangling over his knees.

Angelus graced the lawyer with a dirty look and grumbled, continued prying at the lock on the cuff around his wrist. "I'm not going to just sit here, chained like a whipped dog and wait to be tossed into a fucking hole in the ground. That's something my soulful half would do."

Irritation got the better of the chained vampire, urging him to his feet. Nervous energy played across the muscles of his bare chest. He growled, "And where the Hell is he anyway?! Angel and his 'Warrior of the Light' groupies should have pranced to the rescue by now."

"Maybe Angel decided our deaths are worth Hell on Earth," Lindsey smirked. "It's not like he'll have to live to see it. Your death'll end his suffering. Lucky bastard."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

Angelus and Lindsey jerked their heads to the source of the incredulous voice. 

"No way! No! Not a chance!" Cordelia said adamantly, shaking her head. Her dark hair framed her set features. "I am not risking my life to save you. Either of you." 

She turned on her heel and started for the exit, but was cut off by Wesley and Gunn fighting off two very large no-neck vampires. Her loud yelp mingled with Wesley's grunt when No-neck Nr. 1 tossed the ex-Watcher into her, knocking them both to the ground.

"Hey! Watch it!" Cordelia shouted angrily while untangling herself from the lanky Brit. She marched over to the laughing vampire and dusted him. "Asshole," she snapped at the surprised vampire as he crumbled into nothing.

Angelus laughed heartily. "Did you see the expression on his face? Priceless. That's my Cordelia."

"I'm not your _anything_," Cordelia growled, pointing her stake at the immobile vampire.

"Get the hostages," Angel ordered. He was shaking blood and guts off his empty hand, his swordhand and the sword in it also dripping blood. He frowned when his people didn't move to follow his order. "Guys? Is there a problem?"

"I'll say," Cordelia said sarcastically and moved aside to clear the view to the imprisoned men for her boss.

"Hello, Brother," Angelus smirked, totally amused by the little scene playing out before him.

"Oh, BLOODY HELL!" Angel snarled.

Cordelia turned to her Angel and asked hopefully, "Can't we just take the kid? That would interrupt the ritual, right? We can leave them here."

Angel considered it. He was seriously considering it. He sighed, shook his head and said, "We all go or we all stay." 

Cordelia knew he was going to say that. They couldn't leave it to chance that the ritual could be completed. But she didn't have to like doing the right thing.

With precision, Angel broke the chains holding the catatonic boy and Lindsey. Cordelia was there to catch the boy's body with Lindsey helping her the instant he was freed. Cordelia glared at him balefully. The repentant lawyer offered her a pleading look and she conceded to him taking the boy from her arms.

"Watch your aim, Brother," Angelus goaded. "I would really miss my arm."

"Don't tempt me," Angel growled, shattering the chain under his blade.

"We've got incoming!" Gunn called urgently from his look-out point at the door. He raised his ax, ready for the demon not yet in sight. 

Ma'hlak charged through the door. Gunn swung his ax at the beast's mid section, but Ma'hlak caught the weapon. He flung it across the room, sending Gunn flying too.

Cordelia and Wesley rushed to the crumpled black man, calling to him worriedly. 

"Who dares interfere with the Restoration?!" Ma'hlak demanded.

With one last blow, Angel freed Angelus from his remaining bonds. He turned to face Ma'hlak, taking on a fighting stance, his sword at the ready. 

"That would be me," he said, slipping into game face and bearing his fangs to his enemy.

The ensouled vampire registered movement in his periphery. Even though his back was turned to his soulless counterpart, he was fully aware of every move Angelus made. 

He saw Angelus pick up Gunn's discarded ax and testing it for weight and balance in his powerful hands. He saw Angelus stepping up to his side and take up position next to him. 

"And me," Angelus said to Ma'hlak. 

Angelus shrugged at the incredulous looks he was getting from all sides. "What? I don't want the world to end."

"Yeah, right!" Angel snorted.

Angelus grinned. He couldn't lie to himself. "Well, not when it's not my idea, that is," he amended and charged into battle with a mighty battle roar.

Ma'hlak swiped at the charging vampire with his massive claw. Angelus, anticipating the move, leapt high over the Raz'lah demon. As his body turned in mid-air, Angelus brought the ax down to bury it in Ma'hlak's back. At the last instant, Ma'hlak shifted. He caught a sidelong blow from the descending blade, but the wound healed immediately.

Ma'hlak howled in fury and lunged at Angelus, who was now at his back. His howl turned to one of pain as Angel sliced open his exposed back with his sword.

Angelus pressed Angel's attack and started hacking at Ma'hlak with his battle ax. Blows rained down on Ma'hlak from both sides, his blood and severed flesh turning the floor slippery and gleaming in the glow of the candles. 

The demon sprouted a spiny tail from nowhere and swung it at Angelus, while bringing a fisted claw around to connect with Angel. Ma'hlak roared at the satisfactory sounds of bones breaking and flesh splitting as his dual blows knocked the two vampires off their feet.

Angel and Angelus growled fiercely, leapt to their feet and charged in unison. 

Alone, Ma'hlak had found Angel a formidable opponent, but partnered with the equally formidable Angelus, they were deadly.

The demon squared his massive shoulders and planted his feet, claws at the ready to rip the storming vampires' heads off. If he timed it just right, the two would charge right into each other, and he could squash them both once and for all. But they changed course. In the blink of an eye, the vampires' were no longer running at him from his left and right, but side by side in a collision course with him.

Ma'hlak didn't have time to sidestep the tackling twosome. The floor beneath his feet gave way under the combined force of 400+ pounds of unyielding vampire muscle crashing into him. Ma'hlak fell and started to slide in his own gore as Angel and Angelus' momentum carried him.

Ma'hlak dug in his claws, splitting the concrete as he tried to halt his slide. Suddenly the floor wasn't there anymore. Ma'hlak grappled desperately at the edge of the rift that was the opening to the Hellmouth. 

The demon managed to hook his claws into the edge of the chasm, effectively breaking his fall. Ma'hlak glanced down to the abyss beneath his feet and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He flexed his taut shoulders, slowly pulling his bulk up over the edge.

Ma'hlak's head appeared out of the hole, his eyes searching the growing plain for the next attack. His vision was met by two pairs of legs standing before him, one dressed in black leather, the other in cotton. Ma'hlak craned his neck to better see the danger.

Angel and Angelus loomed over Ma'hlak, weapons gripped loosely. They had twin grins of victory on their identical faces.

"Let me give you a hand," Angel sneered. The blade flashed, neatly separating Ma'hlak's claw from his body.

Angelus tightened his grip on the ax, lifting it high. "Next time you will think twice before betraying me, won't you?" Angelus growled and buried the ax in the concrete lip of the Hellmouth, severing Ma'hlak's body from the appendage linking him to the land of the living.

"Then again, I guess you won't," the soulless vampire commented as he watched Ma'hlak disappear into the darkness of the Hellmouth.

Angel turned to meet his friends' worried gazes. They were still huddled into the wall. Cordelia and Wesley were doing their best to restrain Gunn from getting up and joining the fight. They knew better than to get in the middle of a life and death struggle their boss was involved in.

Lindsey was protectively covering the silently weeping boy's body with his own, cooing words of comfort and gently stroking his hair.

"Are you guys alright?" Angel asked, his attention fully on his three employees pulling each other to their feet. He saw the alarm on Cordelia's face. He heard her cry of warning, but was a split second too late to ward off the snap kick Angelus landed in the small of his back.

Angel was propelled forward. He ducked and rolled, coming to his feet and faced off against his soulless self.

"You didn't think I was going to let you walk out of here, did you?" Angelus asked sarcastically, slowly advancing on his Other, swinging the ax in his hand.

Angel growled, vamping out again. The sword was lying just out of his reach and Angelus knew it. 

Angelus eyed the sword and grinned, "Oops! Loose something, Brother?" 

He swung the ax at Angel's head, who ducked beneath the blade and launched himself at his ax-wielding mirror image.

Angel tackled Angelus, pushing his shoulder into the other vampire's midsection and effectively bowling him off his feet. Angelus grabbed at the vampire pinning him to the floor, roaring loudly, but Angel rolled out of his seeking fingers.

The vampires sprang to their feet, both now armed, murder burning in the twin golden eyes glaring at one another.

Blades flashed and rang out where they met. Muscles quivered on the vampires' gleaming chests as they strained to break the other's hold on his weapon.

Angel relaxed his grip, lifted his sword high and stepped into Angelus, turning as he moved. He brought his elbow down in a crushing blow, splitting Angelus' lip and forcing the soulless vampire back a step. The step was just enough, however for Angelus to gain enough maneuvering room for a return kick by bringing his knee up into Angel's unprotected ribcage. 

Angel winced as Angelus broke two of his ribs, but quickly returned the favor, slicing down with his sword. A satisfied grin spread over his vampire features when Angelus' blood coursed freely from the cut over his chest.

Angelus howled in pain, doubling over and grabbing for the oozing wound. His ax clattered to the floor and he stammered back, glaring at his Other with white-hot hate. 

A growl grew deep in his chest. His fangs seemed to elongate even more as his snarl pulled his bleeding lip up. His fists hooked into claws over the cut marring his perfect skin. His body tensed, ready to spring. 

"You'll pay for that," Angelus growled gutturally and leapt at the advancing Angel.

In movements too fast to follow by mere mortals, Angelus clawed the sword from Angel's hands and rained brutal punches down on him.

Angel returned each blow with matched brutality and speed. The two vampires were equally matched in strength and skill. Slowly, painfully, Angel and Angelus were driving each other to the edge of the pit where they just a little earlier had dispatched Ma'hlak.

Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn and Lindsey could only stare at the two identical vampires beating each other to a bloody pulp.

"You're can't kill me," Angelus stated between a kick and a upper cut. The evil vampire caught Angel by the wrist and pulled him into a neck lock. Angel strained against Angelus' chest, trying to break free. "But I can kill you, Brother," Angelus snarled menacingly in his soulful Other's ear.

Angel felt Angelus' boot finding the small of his back and he knew what was coming. "You will die, Demon, and I will be the one to destroy you," Angel promised his dark self.

"In your next life maybe," Angelus sneered and shoved Angel over the edge of the Hellmouth.

"Angel!" Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn shouted in unison, sprinting for the spot where their friend disappeared.

Cordelia turned hate-filled eyes on the grinning vampire still standing and lunged at him with a stake and a cry. "YOU BASTARD!!!"

Angelus caught the charging Seer easily, laughing. "Sorry, sweetheart. Not here and not today," he grinned, planting a crushing kiss on her lips, bruising them and letting Cordelia drop. Time was running out. Angelus could sense the sun rising and he knew he had to get out of here and to cover before that happened.

"Later!" he called over his shoulder as he disappeared out the door into the last minutes before dawn.


	4. Enemy Without Chapter 12

12

Wesley was peering into the darkness below, searching for any sign that Angel survived the fall. Gunn helped Cordelia to her feet and was just about to chase after the escaping vampire when they heard it.

"Guys?" Faintly.

"He's getting away!" Gunn said loudly, impatiently when he noticed that the Englishman and ex-cheerleader wasn't following his lead in the chase.

Wesley held up his hand urgently, shushing Gunn, and strained to hear.

"But…" Gunn said again, looking desperately at the door.

"Quiet!" Wesley ordered sternly.

Silence descended on the group and this time they all heard it.

"Guys? You there?" A little louder.

Cordelia's eyes grew in excitement and hope. "It's Angel," she said. "Angel! Are you okay?"

Angel's faint voice floated up to them, "Get me out of here, and I will be."

Gunn appeared next to the kneeling ex-Watcher with one of the cut chains, lay down on his stomach and reached down with the chain. "Angel! There's a chain right above you. Can you see it? Grab it!" he called into the void.

"I can't see him. Can you see him?" Cordelia worried, peering into the absolute night.

Gunn grunted as the chain went taut under Angel's weight. "Don't matter," he hissed under the weight. "Guy's got the chain and he's coming up. Grab my legs before he pulls me in. Damn! He's heavy!"

Cordelia and Wesley grabbed Gunn's legs. Lindsey appeared next to Gunn. He took up position next to the straining black man and grabbed the chain too, picking up some of the slack. Together, the four humans hauled on the chain, inching the vampire at the other end out of the pit.

Suddenly the ground started to buck under their bodies.

"Oh God!" Cordelia cried.

"Hang on!" Gunn ordered.

"The Hellmouth's closing!" Wesley shouted.

"Pull! Faster!" Lindsey commanded, putting word to deed.

Hand over hand, Gunn and Lindsey worked together to pull Angel out of the fast-closing Hellmouth while the aftershock rumbled around them. Wesley and Cordelia pulled on the laboring men's legs, slowly inching them away from the Hellmouth's edge.

Angel's hand clawed for purchase on the ledge above him. Lindsey grabbed for the hand, now pulling on both the vampire's arm and the chain. Gunn grabbed Angel's other hand and together they yanked the bloodied vampire from the closing – now closed – Hellmouth.

Everyone just lay there, panting, too tired to think.

"Thanks," Angel managed between gasps his body didn't really require. "Angelus?"

"Gone," Wesley answered.

"Anyone hurt?"

"No," Cordelia breathed.

"Good." 

And there was silence, broken only by slowly steadying heartbeats and expelled breath.

"Are the bad men gone?" a fragile voice asked. 

Lindsey turned over and raised his head at an uncomfortable angle to look at the boy shaking against the wall where he left him. The lawyer dragged himself to his feet and hurried to the boy, hugging him protectively. "Yes, they're all gone," he soothed softly.

Lindsey felt eyes on him. He found Angel standing over him, just staring. 

"I'm sorry," Lindsey sobbed. "For everything. I never meant to…" But the words stuck in his throat. Lindsey wanted to say he never meant to hurt anyone, but he knew it was a lie. He wanted to hurt everyone that ever made him feel small and unimportant. And he wanted to hurt Angel more than anything. 

He had spent so much time hating the vampire that just saved his life, hating him for being able to do good in spite of his evil nature, hating him for being able to connect to people on such a fundamental way while he, Lindsey, was always so utterly alone, just hating him because it was easier than to actually considering changing his life. 

Lindsey closed his eyes. He felt old, ancient. "I'm sorry," he finished weakly, hanging his head in shame.

The vampire was too tired to hate the man silently crying into the boy's hair. Angel walked away, gathering together the discarded weapons and the tattered remains of his shirt. He used the shredded cloth to wipe the blood, dirt and gore from his aching body.

"Sun's up, so unless you can find a sewer access around here somewhere, you're stuck here until sunset," Gunn announced from the door. He'd gone out to check if any of Ma'hlak's demon lackeys were still around to make trouble. "And your car's gone. My guess, Angelus took it."

Angel nodded, his face expressionless. He rubbed his hands over his face, running his fingers through his hair, as if that would wipe the numbing exhaustion away.

Wesley laid a worried hand on the vampire's tense shoulder and asked, "Angel? Is everything alright?"

Angel tried to smile, but he was just to tired to move the muscles needed for that. "I'm just tired," he answered, briefly squeezing the hand on his shoulder in thanks. "It's been one hell of a day."

"Where do you think Angelus is going?" Wesley wondered, taking the weapons from Angel.

A dark shadow crossed the ensouled vampire's face, his brow furrowing in a disquieting frown. Angel knew exactly where his evil duplicate is going, and he hoped they could handle it until he arrived. Angelus had a big head start on him.

"Sunnydale," Angel answered Wesley with certainty.

********************* 

Sunnydale. The town sparkled up at Angelus like a jewel in the falling night. A beautiful, cursed jewel. Home of the Slayer, his Other's mate in soul, if not in flesh.

"Buffy." Angelus tasted the name, salivated. He had a bone or two to pick with his pretty Slayer, but how to choose which of her delectable bones to start with. What fun!

*********************

A chill ran down Buffy's spine, making her flesh break out in goose pimples. She scanned the headstones and mausoleums of Sunny Rest Cemetery, searching for the beast that just trampled over her grave, but saw no-one.

"Wig much? Jeez!" she scolded herself, rubbing her crawling skin into submission. "When a stupid cemetery starts to freak me out, I think it's time to call it a night." 

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, pulled her coat tight around her shoulders and made her way home to the dorms at UC Sunnydale.

*********************

Angel awoke with a growl caught in his throat, his body aching with hunger. Buffy's radiant face flashed briefly across his mind. He shivered.

Angel rose in the dark room where, a few hours ago, the Hellmouth had opened and closed. He was alone, the others having left under his orders. 

The only sewer access Angel could find had been caved in by the earthquake, leaving the sun-allergic vampire stranded until nightfall. 

A water main had been ruptured in one of the adjoining chambers, giving Angel at least a chance to wash the grime off his body. The soreness in his muscles, along with the tension, ebbed from him as the icy water cleansed his cold skin and the fast-healing wounds marking his body.

Wesley had been kind enough to bring him a fresh change of clothes, some blankets and a pillow. Cordelia had taken care of the refreshments. She'd brought him enough blood to last him a week in a pink cooler box, along with a few sandwiches. In case you crave something more solid, she'd said. Angel smiled at the memory.

When he was finally alone and clean, Angel had fed on the liquid part of his meal, leaving the sandwiches for later. He'd made a make-shift bed for himself in the darkest corner of the room, barricaded the door to ensure a peaceful day's sleep without interruptions and had slept like a dead man (no pun intended) until the dream rudely jerked him awake.

Angel's vampiric sensed told him that the sun had set a little while earlier. His stomach cramped with hunger again. Angelus must be hunting, Angel thought wryly, downing two pints of O Negative in quick succession.

"Angel? You in there?" It was Cordelia's voice coming through the blocked door.

Angel hurriedly pulled on his clothes and opened the door for his waiting colleagues. "Did you get me a car?" he asked.

"And good afternoon to you too," Cordelia snipped. "Did you eat the sandwiches I brought you?"

"Sorry… Hi, guys," Angel greeted, frowning at Cordelia rummaging through the cooler. "Cordelia, what…?"

Cordelia held the still-sealed sandwich high in triumph, opened the bag and gulped down a bite. "You weren't really going to eat these, were you?" she mumbled around a wad of bread in her cheek.

Angel grinned and shook his head. "You go ahead," he said, marveling at how the woman who once turned green at the mere mention of his less than normal diet now eats sandwiches she herself stored with the very blood she picked up at the Bloodbank.

"There's been no sign of Angelus or your car anywhere," Wesley reported.

"I know," Angel replied. "He's in Sunnydale. Just got there, I think."

Wesley frowned. "How can you be so sure?" the ex-Watcher asked.

"Because I felt Buffy." Angel read the confusion clearly written on the two old-Sunnydale residents and tried to explain it better. "I had a dream of her."

"And what's so significant about that?" Cordelia interrupted. "You always dream about her."

Angel sighed and continued, "This was different. I dreamt I was killing her. And taking all kinds of pleasure in it. It was Angelus' thoughts I was seeing. And I felt him feel her proximity. We, Buffy and I, could always sense when the other was near. Angelus sensed her, and I sensed her… by proxy, you could say. Trust me. Angelus is in Sunnydale and I'm going after him. Now give me the keys."

Wesley made for the driver's side, ready to get in. "I'll drive," he said.

Angel laid a restraining hand on the car door, talking over Wesley's unvoiced objections. "I'm going alone. And I don't have time to argue. He's hunting Buffy right now. I have to go. Now." 

"Buffy can handle Angelus," Cordelia interjected. "She has beaten him… you before."

A pained looked fluttered over Angel's face at the memory Cordelia has stirred up and said, "Buffy can't fight Angelus. Not now. It took me, the less noble me, months of goading and prodding to get her ready and willing to seriously fight me. She doesn't know what's happened here – about Angelus and me. Buffy doesn't have the luxury of time on her side."

"'Goading and prodding'," Cordelia snorted sarcastically. "What a nice way to phrase the mental torture you inflicted on her by terrorizing _us_, her friends."

"Cordelia, I didn't mean… I'm sorry," Angel tried to apologize. He wanted to kick himself sometimes for not thinking before sticking his foot in his mouth.

Cordelia waved her hand non-committally, not looking at the vampire's regret-ridden face. "It's okay. It's done. I'm over it." Anger built up in the brunette, and she pinned Angel down with flashing hazel eyes. "No! You know what? I'm not over it! In the years I've known you, you have put me through all kinds of hell. Not to mention the fact that you tried to kill me on more than one occasion!

"Now the bastard part of you that did those things and enjoyed it is out there, walking around, and I want payback, dammit!" She shoved Angel aside and yanked the car door open, grabbing the keys out of Wesley's hand. "Now I'm going with you and I don't give a rat's ass what you think about it!"

The fired-up brunette started the car, gunning the engine and peered out underneath the driver's side door frame, "You coming?"

The shocked men jumped at Cordelia's order. Car doors slammed and the rental screamed onto the road, making a beeline for Sunnydale.


	5. Enemy Without Chapter 13

Enemy Without Chapter 13

13

Angelus watched from the garden.He watched as the blonde vampire made his way from one end of the great room to the other, tidying as he went.He watched as the undead squatter stoked the embers glowing in the fireplace to a proper blaze, made himself comfortable and opened a book.

"Reading, Spike?I guess you'll need a new line of work now that you can't hunt anymore," the elder vampire drawled.

Spike jumped.He hadn't heard the dark-haired vampire come in.Stealthy bugger, Spike thought, feeling irritated that his old Master was still able to make him feel like an incompetent schoolboy.

"And housebroken too," Angelus muttered when he ran his long fingers over a table top, finding it immaculate.

Spike ground his teeth.He'd been practicing keeping his lightning quick temper in check, but the critical asshole was really working that one nerve reserved strictly for him.

"Do you mind?You're smudging the finish," Spike growled.

Angelus grinned, showing his palms in mock-defeat, and immediately returned to nosing through Spike's personal belongings.

The blonde vampire sighed frustratedly, yanking a bronze goblet from his unwelcome guest's hand, and asked, "What do you want, Angel?Don't you have enough nasty stuff to keep you busy back in LA?"

Angelus smiled at the name his Childe used.The goody-goodies didn't tell, he realised with amusement.What an interesting turn of events.

"I had some time on my hands," Angelus said vaguely, slowly rolling a training staff in his hands, keeping his eyes lowered.No sense in alerting the boy to his true identity beforehand."Thought I'd pop in, see how everybody's doing."

Spike tracked the swinging staff's path, cringing when it just missed a Ming vase he'd found between Angel's old stuff in storage."Watch it, you big ox!" he snapped, snatching the weapon from Angelus' hand and putting it down just out of reach.He missed the burst of rage erupting in the elder vampire's black, soulless eyes."Next time, call before barging into my house.Give a guy a chance to hide all his breakables."

To keep himself from throttling the impertinent Childe, he picked up Spike's discarded book.What was the boy reading these days?Something escaped the yellow pages.

With preternatural deftness, Angelus caught the piece of paper fluttering to the floor.It was a photo… of Buffy.

"What are you doing with a picture of the Slayer, Spike?" he asked, deadly calm.

Spike flushed red for an instant."None of your damn business," he grumbled and retrieved yet another item from the dark vampire's long fingers.

"Everything she does is my business."

"You don't own her, Angel.You left her.I was there when she felt….lonely."Spike grinned when the dark-haired pretty boy dropped his eyes and decided to push it a little further.The nancyboy's so easy, he thought when he said, "I could give her that happy she needed without going all massacre-happy on her like you.Sorry, big guy, but she's mine now."

Angelus reached critical mass.He had the staff back in his hand with lightning speed.No Childe of his making would dare address him so disrespectfully.Spike had to learn.Spike had to learn the hard way.

The staff connected with Spike's cheekbone, splitting the skin and hurling the surprised vampire into the mantle over the fireplace.

Fury flared through Spike.He leapt to his feet, but his leap was cut painfully short by a heavy black boot crushing down on his windpipe, pinning him to the floor.

"I'm sorry.We seem to be having a slight misunderstanding," Angelus snarled and pushed down hard on the struggling vampire under his foot.Spike gagged at the added pressure on his neck, tears squeezing out of his eyes."Let me clear things up for you.This is _my house.The Slayer is _my _woman.Everything you think you own, is __mine."He let his eyes slowly, purposefully trace the length of the sprawled vampire's body."Everything."He lifted his foot just enough for the blonde brat to answer his understanding._

Spike answered."Fuck you!" he growled.

Angelus shook his head, "Wrong answer, my boy."

Spike's world exploded in brilliant colors of agony as Angelus landed three expert blows on his body with the staff.The first blow shattered the immobile vampire's nose, gushing blood into his gasping mouth and down his blocked throat.

The second drove two broken ribs through his unused lung, forcing the pooling blood at the back of his throat out of his mouth, letting it flow freely down his cheeks and into his ears and onto the floor. 

The third blow hit the groaning man in his knee, dislocating it in the most painful way.The instant his knee popped out, Spike was transported back into his early lessons, a terrified fledgling foolish enough to try and run from his Master.Angelus knew how to teach you not to run from your punishment.

But Angel wouldn't…, Spike thought frantically.He watched the vampire on top of him reach back to the awkward bulge where his knee was supposed to be, panic flooding him.Angelus had taught him where to squeeze the exposed nerves to cause added agony to the unwilling student.Pain leaves a lasting impression, Angelus always said.You don't forget the lessons taught you in pain.

'But Angel wouldn't!', the blonde, bleeding vampire's mind screamed.Not even to me, not with his soul…

Angelus watched the emotions rushing over his Childe's face, waiting for that glimmer of recognition to grow to certainty.He wanted the insolent boy to know who was punishing him.

Spike opened his mouth, trying to speak the name that was turning sideways in his heart, but he could only squawk.He swallowed and tried again."A-A-Angelus?" he croaked, terror turning his mouth dry and bitter.

An evil grin split the Master vampire's face.He brought his hovering hand down on Spike's knee and squeezed violently.Spike's scream rattled the windows, drowning out Angelus' bellowing laugh.

"Angelus!Master!Please!Stop!" the tortured vampire screamed.The agony was beyond what he could bear.

"Are you sorry, boy?" Angelus snarled at his crying, begging Childe."Are you sorry for your betrayal?"

"YES!YES!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!!Please!" Spike begged, willing to say or do anything to make the pain bombarding him stop.

Angelus let go of Spike's knee, releasing the nerves he was gripping.Spike gasped as the pain ebbed away.He blinked past the tears cascading from his eyes to look at the soulless vampire.

"I don't believe you, Spike," Angelus said, rising to his full height."But lucky for you I don't have the luxury of time on my side right now."

Hope flared in Spike's eyes.Maybe this was over.Maybe he would….The thought was cut short by a steel-toed boot connecting to his side, sending him sliding headlong into the wall.

"I guess we'll just have to settle for the Cliff notes version of the lesson."

Spike didn't fight back as the fierce blows and kicks pummeled him.He curled himself into a ball, trying to make as small a target of himself as he could.He felt his bones break, his blood splatter the wall and floor.He wanted to loose consciousness, but each wave of pain brought him back to this nightmare.

Then it stopped.It just stopped.Spike dared to peek through his swollen lids to see if Angelus had finally deemed the lesson over.

"You have much to make up for, my boy.But you took your licks like a man.Well, actually like a crying woman, but you didn't resist me.And that pleases me," Angelus spoke.

He bent down.Spike cowered away from Angelus' reaching hand.That brought a new smile of pleasure to the dark vampire's face.He grabbed Spike by his short blonde hair, pulling him to his knees, but not letting go.Angelus grabbed with his other hand, bringing a new scream forth from Spike's battered body as the long, powerful fingers closed around his balls in a vise grip.Angelus lifted Spike high over his head, liking the weight of the other man on his flexing shoulder muscles, and pitched Spike away.

Spike had to fight the darkness from claiming him when he hit the door that led to the garden.He tried to swallow the cry pushing out of him, but couldn't.

"The lesson is over," Angelus said, satisfied."For now."

The broken vampire offered up a prayer of thanks when he noticed the crouching figure in the shadows of the fountain that made the centerpiece of the garden.He tried to make out who it was, but his eyes were swollen nearly completely shut.

Angelus had sensed the presence of another as well and marched to the garden.Xander stumbled out from his hiding place, dread and confusion playing over his young features.

No, Spike's being screamed.He gulped air into his lungs and bellowed, "**RUN!!!!**"

Xander didn't need to be told twice.He was on his feet and away with speed equal to any vampire's.

Angelus didn't give chase."No matter," he shrugged."That saves me the time of letting my Slayer know who's come to visit."He turned and, shrugging his graceful form into his coat, strode out of the mansion, leaving his devastated Childe broken, bleeding and slipping into oblivion.


	6. Enemy Without Chapter 14

14

14

"Buffy! Where's Buffy? I have to talk to her! Oh God, this is terrible!" 

Xander charged into Buffy's dorm room. Willow, still Buffy's roommate, looked up and gasped in shock at her pale, hysterical friend.

"Xander!" she cried, jumping to his aid. "What's wrong?" Xander Harris didn't have hysterics unless something was truly, horribly wrong.

"Buffy," the young man panted, gulping air into his starving lungs. "Have to find Buffy!"

Willow spoke slowly, trying to calm him down. "Buffy's out patrolling. She should be back…"

"No!" Xander interrupted, grabbing Willow painfully by the arms. "She shouldn't be out there! Not now!"

"… now," Willow finished her sentence, dislodging herself from his bruising grip and pointing to the opening door. "Hey, Buffy."

"Hey," Buffy answered, frowning at the weirdness she walked in on. 

Xander flashed his eyes over her body, searching for wounds, marks, any sign that she was hurt. Seeing none, he engulfed the Slayer in a bear hug, words rushing out of him, "Buffy, thank God you're not hurt. You're not hurt, are you?"

Buffy untangled herself from Xander's grasp, stepping past him, and gave her roommate a questioning look. Willow just shrugged her shoulders. No idea, her expression said to the Slayer.

"I'm fine, Xand. No Big Bad around to bug the Buff. All's quiet on the Hellmouth," Buffy soothed a still-frantic Xander.

The strength left the young man's legs and he dropped on Buffy's bed with his hands in his dark hair. "Oh Buffy…" he moaned. "I wish that were true. How I wish to God that were true."

He looked at her, took a deep breath and delivered his terrible news. "Something's happened to Spike. I went over there, and I saw…" He halted, Spike's tortured howls still ringing in his ears.

"What about Spike?" Buffy asked urgently. She had grown quite close to the chipped vampire, and concern gripped her heart in an icy vise.

"Spike's not bad again, is he?" Willow asked, scared at the prospect. "Oh God! The Big Bad is back?"

Xander frowned, shaking his head. "No, Willow. This is so much worse."

It was the redhead's turn to frown. "What could be worse than Spike, free after years of not being able to hunt and kill?" she wondered.

Xander got up, nervous energy making him twitch. "You want to know what's worse? Let me think about that one. Oh! I know! Angel, free of his soul and out for blood! That's worse, wouldn't you say?!" he shouted.

Buffy froze at the mention of her former lover's name. Angel. It didn't come as a surprise. All night she had felt his presence. Her being had heard his call and her blood had howled in answer. But the news of Angelus she didn't expect.

"What about Spike?" she asked, not feeling her lips forming the words.

Xander's frustration drained from him at the sight of the Slayer's face. "Buffy," he started, not knowing how to soften the next blow. "Spike… um… he's hurt. Bad. Angel…"

Pain, anger, longing, frustration. These were but a few emotions chasing each other through Buffy's heart. "I'm going to him," she said, grabbing her coat and brushing past her worried friends.

"Buffy, no! He's out there! It's too dangerous!" Xander shouted after Buffy, but she just ignored him, urging her legs to carry her faster to where her new vampire-lover lay wounded.

Xander threw his hands in the air, hating feeling so helpless. Willow's words pulled Xander back to his other very frightened friend. "What?" he asked.

"Why didn't Wesley or Cordelia warn us? They're there. Why didn't they call?" Willow asked again. Her eyes grew, tears gathering, threatening to spill over onto her paper white cheeks. "What if they can't call? What if they're…?" She couldn't finish the thought, a sob choking off the word 'dead'.

Fury burned in the dark-haired man's wounded eyes. "The bastard!" he growled. "I'll kill him!" Angel has stolen so much from him. The Slayer's heart, the beautiful Cordelia's loyalty. "He's not going to hurt my girls ever again," he promised.

Willow tried to stop him, weeping loudly, panic wanting to take her. Xander just brushed her clinging hand from his arm and followed Buffy out of the dorm, itching to find the object of his hatred and make him pay.

"Oh God, what do I do?" the witch wailed at the empty room. "Giles. I have to call Giles." 

Willow dashed for the phone, but her eyes fell on her own supply chest and she altered course. She ripped up the lid, praying for the right ingredients to be there. She set up the circle, praying for strength. She threw the ingredients to the spell in a bowl, multiplying everything with a number of five. She rambled off the incantation in a breathless prayer and was knocked back by the explosion of light created by her magick. She offered up another prayer, this one of thanks as she scrambled to her feet and completed her dash for the phone. The protection spell would hold her two closest friends safe, she hoped… prayed. Let them be safe.

Willow dialed Buffy's Watcher's number, forcing her fingers to hit the right numbers. The phone rang once, twice, three times. Willow's heart started to pound painfully in her chest. Angel had been invited into all their homes, except perhaps Xander's. What if she was too late? What if…?

She didn't have to finish that thought as a British-accented voice answered.

"Giles!" she cried, a sob breaking free from her clenched teeth. "You have to help. Buffy… Xander… they're out there!"

On the other end of the line, the British man took off his glasses and scratched the back of his head. It was Willow crying frantically into his ear, but for the life of him he couldn't understand what was so dreadfully urgent. "Willow, calm down," he soothed much as she did not too long ago with Xander. "What's wrong? Where's Buffy and Xander?"

Willow forced herself to breathe. "Buffy went to help Spike. But Xander went to hunt him! He's going to be killed!"

"Xander is hunting Spike?" Giles was completely confused.

"No!" the witch screamed across the telephone line. "Angelus! He's hunting Angelus!"

"Angel's here?" Giles asked, but his Watcher mind interjected. She didn't say Angel. She said Angelus. Giles amended his question before Willow could speak. "Angel has turned?"

Another sob ripped through the young witch. That was all the confirmation Giles needed. "Stay where you are. Don't leave. I'm coming," he ordered.

He heard Willow's voice through the earpiece just before he dropped the phone back into its cradle. "Be careful."

********************* 

"Angel?" Cordelia asked nervously from the driver's seat. "Are you okay?" She peered into the rearview mirror to find only an empty seat and not for the first time she doubted the wisdom behind giving the vampire with no reflection the back seat instead of the seat next to her where she could keep an eye on him.

A low growl escaped the backseat passenger as he emptied the bag of blood he was drinking. "Yeah, why?"

"That was your third pint in less than 2 hours," Cordelia explained. "Is there something we need to know? Something you would like to talk about? Like us turning into cartoon happy meals when you look at us?"

Angel's brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of the visual Cordelia had just pictured for him and barked an amused laugh. He shook his head, still grinning good-naturedly, and said, "I'm fine. I'm just hungry."

"Oh course," Wesley responded in his clipped British accent, throwing Cordelia an annoyed look. "After the battle you've just been through, it's only understandable that you would require more sustenance than normal."

"No, it's not that. My wounds are completely healed. It's the damn link." Angel frowned as his stomach growled again. "Angelus just killed a teenage boy. No foreplay, just a regular feeding. He's hungry too."

Angel missed the look that passed between his friends in the front of the car. 

Wesley cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully. "Angel," he began, but Angel interrupted. 

"You don't have to worry, Wesley. I can handle this. Unlike him, I have control over my baser instincts."

Wesley nodded, considering the subject closed. Cordelia wanted to say something, but thought better of it. She just nodded her head acceptance of Angel's statement, her eyes never leaving the road.

A road sign flashed past them. "Sunnydale 10," Cordelia read. "We're almost there."

*********************

"Hello Lover."

Buffy spinned toward the familiar voice. 'Like always', the Slayer thought angrily. 'When I let my guard down, he shows up.'

Buffy had been focusing all her attention on getting to her wounded friend. Her body had chosen the familiar shortcut, carrying her faster and faster to where the blonde vampire was lying, waiting for her to help him. She hadn't even seen the shadow stepping out from behind the mausoleum until he had spoken, stopping her heart and her feet at the same time.

"Angel." The word slipped out before she could stop it.

Angelus grinned, shaking his head and slowly circling her like a panther preparing to pounce. "Sorry, Lover. Spike figured that out the hard way. You know, it really hurt me to see my boy housebroken like that. You and your band of merry tag-alongs have turned him into that souled-up whiner that wore my face."

Buffy stood silent, her eyes never leaving the creature's face, turning as he circled her. 

"And you!" Angelus pointed. "You allowed him to touch you. That is most definitely not allowed." He stopped, his soulless eyes boring into her with seething fury. "Tell me that you're sorry."

The Slayer met the vampire's eyes, seething fury meeting seething fury. She crossed her arms over her chest, squaring her stance and said in a strong, steady voice, "Fuck you, Angel." 

It tore through her soul to call this monster by her beloved's name, but she knew the reaction it would have on him. 

Angelus roared. His rage lifted his hand and before he could stop himself, the Slayer was landing hard on the grass. A bruise covered her jaw and the drop of blood clinging to her lower lip made the vampire's blood scream with want.

Buffy rose up slowly. Her face felt numb, except for where Angelus' fist had connected. The bruise throbbed in time with her heart, causing light spots to dance before her eyes. 

She shook it off and squared her stance again. This time she didn't cross her arms over her chest. This time her fists were balled by her side, Mr Pointy firmly grasped in her right hand.

"Don't think that just because you wear his face, I won't kill you," Buffy said. She was slowly moving back into fighting distance of her adversary. With every step she was telling herself that this wasn't Angel. This wasn't the man who she loved even now, after so many years of separation. This wasn't the man who held her and comforted her when her mother died, the man she measured all other possible mates to and found them wanting. This wasn't the man she shared a soul with.

Angelus laughed that cruel laugh so uniquely his. "Why don't you try saying that with a little more believability, Lover? I'm sure you can do better."

Buffy swallowed hard and steeled herself for what she was about to do. She leapt, sticking her leg out and planted a kick in the vampire's stomach. Angelus was prepared. He grunted, but remained on his feet. The Slayer advanced immediately, kicking out again and connecting to the same spot. This time Angelus stepped back, but still he remained standing.

He leered at her, "That all you got, Slayer? Has fucking my boy Spike made you soft? Maybe I should thank him for making you such an easy target."

"He's not your boy!" Buffy shouted angrily. Angelus was goading her. She knew this and still she couldn't bite back the words. "He hasn't been for a long time."

"Foolish child!" Angelus stepped in close to Buffy, grabbing her, holding her immobile. He tangled his long fingers into her hair and yanked her head back, exposing her scarred throat. "I marked you both. Neither of you will be anything but mine!"

Buffy strained her neck back further, pulling the scar at the base of her throat taut. The bite mark stood out white against her skin. "This is _not_ your mark, demon," she hissed. "This is Angel's mark. I belong to him. _Not_ you."

Angelus was furious. Buffy flinched inwardly when the vampire still gripping her hair vamped out. Angelus was so close she could smell the blood he'd stolen from some unsuspecting victim. 

Angelus' fangs grazed her skin, seeking the scar. He wanted to eradicate his souled Other's hold on the woman in his arms completely. 

Buffy whimpered, her heart crashing into her breastbone. She shoved against Angelus' hard chest, trying desperately to break his hold. Her eyes were locked to his golden gaze. He was going to kill her. She could see her death written in his eyes, and she could do nothing to stop him.

A guttural cry filled the night as Buffy felt Angelus' fangs slowly sink into her flesh. 

But then the two intertwined people were ripped apart, the vampire's fangs shredding her skin as Angelus was knocked away from Buffy.

Angelus was back on his feet in the blink of an eye, searching out his attacker. "Xander," he snarled, salivating at the thought of finally ridding himself of the useless pup that had appointed himself the Slayer's protector.

"I've been waiting a long time for this!" Xander said menacingly. He launched himself at the coldly sneering vampire, hate burning bright in his eyes.

"Xander, no!" Buffy cried, struggling to her feet, but it was too late. Angelus already had the young man by his neck. She heard a loud snap as the demon broke her friend's arm, forcing an involuntary scream from him.

"Let him go!" she roared, grabbing for purchase on Angelus' collar and pulling with every ounce of Slayer strength.

Angelus felt himself being lifted off his feet. Light exploded behind his eyes when he collided with the mausoleum wall. Rage bellowed from deep within his chest.

Buffy grappled for Xander's arm and pulled him into a panicked run. They fled into the night, away from the roar growing behind them, away from the threat ringing out to find their ears. "You can't run forever!"


	7. Enemy Without Chapter 15

15

15

Flashes of light exploded intermittently behind Spike's eyelids.He heard moaning, and realised it was coming from him.A cool cloth dabbed carefully at his aching face, making him wince.He could hear voices, but they seemed garbled, very far away.He couldn't make out what was being said or who was saying it.He concentrated.The light hitting his eyes made him squint.He tried again.The world seemed to be made up of reddish blurs.He blinked, concentrated.The world swam into reddish focus.

"He's coming around."

"Be careful.You're hurting him.It's a good thing he's immortal.Any human would never have survived this."

"Spike?William?Can you hear me?Open your eyes, Will."

'William?', Spike wondered.'No-one's called him that since…'

His eyes grew, terrorized.His breathing quickened.The face of his "teacher" came into focus before his swollen eyes.'No,' he mouthed, but it came out sounding like a moan.

"Ssshhh… It's okay.I won't hurt you.See?Cordelia and Wesley are here too.I'm not him."

Angel hated seeing so much fear in the blonde vampire's bloodshot eyes.He hated the memories it awakened of when he did these things to his Childe.Tears collected in the dark lashes surrounding Angel's soulful eyes.He cried silently, soothing the broken creature lying helpless in his arms and wiped away the blood staining Spike's skin with the tears that flowed for him.

********************* 

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Buffy asked angrily.The group was gathered in Xander's apartment, which was the only place among them that their returned enemy didn't have complete access to.She hissed when Giles dosed the wound at her throat with disinfectant.

Xander glared at the Slayer."Saving your ass is coming to mind," he shouted, clamping down on a scream when Willow set his broken arm."Oh, and Will?Good job on that protection spell.That really paid off."

"Hey!" Willow cried, hurt and angry."You're alive, aren't you?I'd say it was a roaring success, seeing as how you went out looking to get killed!"

"Buffy?"Giles ignored the bickering young people and focussed on his charge."Are you alright?This must have been really hard on you, seeing him like that again."

Buffy held back the tears that threatened at the edges of her heart.She nodded."I'm fine.I just have to keep reminding me that that isn't Angel."

Giles nodded too, encouraged at the young woman's willingness to accept."Yes, Angel is dead.You have to remember that if you are to battle Angelus."

A frown creased the Slayer's forehead.She shook her head and said, "No, Angel isn't dead. I kept getting the feeling that my Angel is still alive."

"Oh God!" Xander cried, exasperated."Haven't we done this once before?Wake up, Buffy!Your boyfriend is dead and gone!If you can't get that through your Angel-obsessed head, we are all going to die."

Fury flashed in Buffy's hazel eyes."Don't start with me, Xander!I have enough to worry about without you lecturing me!"

"Well, somebody's got to…"

"I can handle this!" Buffy stated, annoyed.She got up and started gathering her things.

Willow caught her eye."Buffy?" she asked nervously.

"The sun's almost up.He'll be looking for a place to crash.But Spike's still hurt.I have to go check on him," Buffy explained.

"Be careful," Willow ordered, hugging her friend tightly.The witch had a bad feeling she wasn't going to see her friend again.

*********************

"Angel, maybe we should move him."

Angel rose from the bed where they'd put their patient.Wesley was right.This was Angelus' first stop for a reason.The mansion was his home, his lair.And he would return to it when the sun rose.That means he would be back soon. 

"You and Cordelia have to take him to Giles'.Before the sun rises.Angelus will be back soon."

"Of course," Cordelia agreed.She entered the bedroom with fresh supplies of bandages, water and blood.

The vampire in the bed sat up quickly to protest, grunting when his body got its protest in first."Oi!I'm not going anywhere.I have a thing or two to say to Psycho Angel, and unless you've got a damned good reason for me not to say them, I'm not moving an inch," Spike said adamantly.

Angel tossed a roll of bandages at Spike, who caught it easily, but not before letting loose a bellow when his not quite healed ribs stabbed him in his side.

"Okay, point taken. Now shut up about it and help me get dressed."Spike glared good-naturedly at Angel, who hadn't said a word."Smug asshole." 

Angel's straight face broke into a happy grin at his Childe's grumblings.The two vampires shared a glance, the memory of the past few hours passing between them.

*********************

"Master?I don't understand," Spike had asked the crying vampire.His voice was weak, his cheeks sunken from the massive blood loss he'd suffered.

Hearing the title on the bloodied vampire's lips made Angel cry harder."Don't call me that," he'd begged, regret heavy in his deep voice."I'm not your Master, and I am so sorry for everything I did to you when I was."

"Spike, this is Angel.The Angel with a soul," Cordelia tried to explain."The Angel that did this to you isn't Angel.He's Angelus."

"I know the bloody difference between the two, you twit!" Spike growled, anger making his voice strong."But their both still the same guy!Him!"He tried to jerk his thumb at the dark-haired vampire holding him, but had to settle for pointing with a shaky finger.

Wesley chimed in with further facts to the bizarre story, "Not anymore, no.A spell split Angel and Angelus into two physical beings.There's two of them now."

Spike searched the pained visage of the other vampire, looking for confirmation that what the humans were saying was indeed true.Angel nodded, 'Yes, it's true.'

"Bloody hell," Spike swore.The world started spinning again.His eyes rolled back in his head as the darkness claimed him once more.

"What do we do?" Cordelia asked frantically."He's lost so much blood."The Seer couldn't help but take in the room around them, the blood splattered as high as the ceiling, pools of the red liquid glistening in the firelight."Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick."

Wesley thumped the cooler down next to Angel."There's another 5 pints left in there.That should help him."

Angel shook his head."Save them.I know what he needs now."

Wesley and Cordelia gasped as Angel slashed open the vein in his throat with his dagger and brought the ailing vampire to meet the flowing crimson blood. 

Spike's nose flared at the scent of familial blood and vamped out, sealing himself to the gushing fount with his fangs and gulping down the rejuvenating fluid.Angel closed his arms around the vampire attached to him in a crushing hug, reveling in the pain and thrill of feeling the blood being drained from him.

A wave of dizziness passed over him, but Angel shook it off. His Childe needed more, and he would give it.Spike grabbed onto his Sire's body, tangling his fingers into Angel's dark hair.He pulled the dark head back and bit in deeper into the willing throat of his Master.

Wesley's cries, Cordelia's shouts slowly found their way past the rushing thunder in Angel's ears.

"Enough," he said, trying to dislodge the feeding vampire.Spike wouldn't relinquish his hold on the wonderful feast burning its way over his tongue."Enough!" Angel growled, closing a fist into the blonde vampire's hair and yanking him free.

It has been a lifetime since the elder vampire had fed his Childe like this.Angel watched as Spike ran his tongue over his bottom lip, catching the last of his Sire's blood still clinging there.Black eyes met golden, turned cerulean.In the glance that passed between the two immortals a new bond was formed.The chipped vampire and his soul-having Sire was family once more.

Now it was perhaps half an hour before the sun would rise over the horizon, effectively trapping the vampires inside the mansion, and for the unlife of him Angel didn't want to be separated from his family, human or otherwise.But it was necessary.

"Okay, Blondie, up you get," Cordelia grunted, slinging Spike's unbandaged arm over her shoulder.

Spike yowled at the rough juggling he was being subjected to."Hold up, lady!Jeez, you're killing me here!"

"You're already dead so stop your whining," Cordelia countered.

"Angel?Aren't you going to do something?Stop her!She's hurting me."Spike threw his Sire an adorable droopy dog look.

Angel couldn't help but smile."Cordelia strongly believes in tough love," Angel answered, but gently stepped in between the dark-haired woman and the whining blonde.Spike let Angel help him to his feet, pulling on the coat held for him, without any further protest.

"There's no answer at Giles' apartment," Wesley spoke up from the door.He'd been trying to get the other ex-Watcher on the phone for the past 10 minutes.

Cordelia frowned worriedly."You don't think…"

"No, love," Spike soothed the woman propping him up."Xander would have warned them." 

"Call Xander," Spike and Angel said in unison, the idea hitting them simultaneously.

Wesley cocked his head questioningly.Why would he call Xander of all people?

"Xander's is the only place Angel… or Angelus hasn't been invited into.Unless there's something you neglected to tell me?" Spike said.

Angel nodded his agreement."Spike's right.I've been to everybody's homes, except Xander.Who knew his fervent dislike for me would actually turn out to be a good thing?"

Wesley dialed the number Spike recited while Angel and Cordelia helped him out to the rental.

"They're all there.But Buffy's on her way here.Apparently, Angelus attacked her last night," Wesley reported, shutting the cellphone and delivering it back into his pocket."She's fine.Xander intervened," the ex-Watcher answered the twin questioning stares from the vampires, watching with interest and amusement as twin sighs of relief escaped their mouths.

"Thank you, Wesley," Angel said, offering his hand to his colleague and friend."You've been a friend to me when I didn't deserve it.I will always be grateful for that."

Wesley suddenly had to struggle to utter the words trapped behind the lump in his throat.His friend was saying good-bye.He took Angel's offered hand and pulled the vampire in for a very un-British-like hug."You are a great man, Angel.I have learned a great many things about bravery and sacrifice from you."He turned his face away, not wanting his friend to see the tears spilling over his cheeks, but Angel saw.And wanted to weep.

"What's this?You're saying good-bye like you're not going to see us again," Cordelia commented when Angel wrapped his powerful arms around her, hugging her gently."But you're not, are you?"The Seer saw what it meant for Angel to stay behind at the mansion to face Angelus.Either Angel defeats his demon and dies, or Angel's demon defeats him and he dies.Cordelia choked back a sob."Angel," was all she could get out, closing her arms around his neck and holding on with all her strength.

"I love you," Angel whispered to the girl who'd become a woman, his link to the Powers and, most importantly, his family.He untied himself from her arms and said, tears streaking down his own cheeks, "Take care of Gunn.Make sure the kid doesn't get himself killed.And Lindsey.Tell him I forgive him."

Cordelia nodded, crying.She pulled Angel down and kissed him, their tears mingling.

Spike stood leaning against the car, watching the ritual final good-byes of people never seeing each other again.He couldn't understand why.Did they think he couldn't beat Angelus in a fight?He scoffed at the ridiculous idea.Soulboy's averted the bloody Apocalypse more than once, and they think he can't handle one vampire?

Understanding dawned on him.But this wasn't just another vampire.This was the very vampire that resided inside Angel.If that demon dies…Spike understood – and wished to all the gods he didn't.

"Spike."Angel reached out his hand to his Childe, but Spike ducked it.

"You're leaving me?" he asked, hurt."I finally get my family back after all these decades - family that will accept me.And you're leaving me?"

Angel fought down Spike's resisting arms, holding him."William, I'm sorry," he wept."I have to…"

"Yes, I know," Spike yielded. "You have to do this.But I don't have to like it, you wanker."He returned Angel's hug, taking comfort in the strength of his Sire's arms."I wonder if she knows just how much you're giving up for her," Spike murmured into Angel's chest, noticing the wetness his own tears had made.

Angel pulled away from the younger vampire, looking him square in the eye. "Will, you have to promise me, if I don't succeed…"Angel swallowed and hardened his grip on Spike's upper arms."If he kills me, you have to promise me you will kill Angelus.Protect Buffy.Promise me."

Spike looked at the man holding him and felt his heart breaking.Angel was entrusting the one thing he held dearest to him, dearer even than his own soul, to him, Spike, a vampire that has hated him for a century and has loved him for an eternity."I promise," Spike answered, and knew it to be true.He would give his own life to keep the Slayer safe, because it was Angel's final wish.

Angel looked past the blonde vampire at the horizon."The sun's almost up.It's time."

"Angel, I'm sorry.For all the things I did, all the times I tortured you, tried to kill you.For hating you," Spike said, desperately gripping the elder vampire by his arms."Can you forgive ever me? Please, Master, I need to know."

Angel pulled his Childe close to his massive chest, holding him close to his silent heart."I forgive you, William.I love you."

He deposited a crying Spike into a crying Cordelia's arms and escaped back into the mansion, his vision doubling behind unshed tears.He didn't want to die, Angel's soul was screaming.Not when he had so much to live for.

"Where's Spike, you bastard?"

The voice cut through Angel like a knife.He turned to face the Slayer."Buffy," he breathed. 


	8. Enemy Without Chapter 16

16

16

Buffy recoiled inwardly at the emotions carried in that one uttered word.So much pain… longing… love?How could this be?How could this be Angelus, when he sounds so much like her Angel?

Buffy steeled herself against her conflicting emotions, tightened her grip on the wooden stake in her hand and repeated, "Where's Spike?"

"He's safe," Angel answered.He cautiously started to move towards the woman standing in the centre of the destroyed living room."He's with Cordelia and Wesley."

"Good old Cordy and Wesley," Buffy snorted, fighting down the doubt concerning the man slowly edging towards her."Guess I know why they didn't call with the good news.Did they make willing minions?Or did you have to break them like you did Drusilla?"

Angel frowned.He was getting a little irritated with the blonde woman's tone."What?No!Buffy, listen…"

"I don't have to listen to anything you have to say, demon.Not anymore!Now let's just fight and get it over with.I have an appointment for a manicure at 10."

Buffy leapt at Angel, stake raised.Angel sidestepped the Slayer easily, blocking her spin kick and a roundhouse punch, but not returning the blows.

"I don't want to fight you!" he said, ducking another punch.

"Oh, really?" Buffy sneered between a fruitless jab of her stake and yet another blocked kick."Let me guess.You want to try again?See if we can make it work this time?Sorry.Been there, done that.Not interested."

Angel stepped into Buffy's space with lightning speed, pinning her arms to her side."Damn it, Buffy!Will you shut up and listen!" he all but shouted at the struggling woman.

Buffy bucked in the vampire's hands, but his preternatural strength was enough to hold her fast.

"I'm not him," Angel tried to explain."I'm not the one who attacked Will, or you."

"Lies!" she spat and wrenched herself free of Angel's strong hands."I will not listen to more of your lies, Angelus!"

Angel drew back as if struck.Hearing Buffy calling him by that sadist's name had wounded him more than any punch or kick she might have delivered could.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this highly entertaining little melodrama of yours, but actually Brooding Boy's telling the truth."

All the blood drained from Buffy's face as she watched Angelus emerging from the shadows he'd been hiding in."How…?" she stammered, her mind reeling."Who…?"

"Oh, allow me," Angelus offered with a deep bow."Let me introduce myselves.I'm Angelus, the evil fuck that's going to kill your friends, kill your family and kill you.He…" the amused vampire pointed to his growling Other."..is Angel, your pitiful, soul filled ex-boyfriend who'll be doing his bestest best to stop me.Isn't that right, Brother?"

"Angelus," Angel growled warningly, moving protectively in front of Buffy."It's time to make amends for all your evil.It's time for you to die."

"Are you ready?" Angelus asked knowingly."Are you ready to kill me?"

Angel answered by leaping at his twin, fangs bared and fists swinging.Buffy could only stand back and watch the bizarre scene play out before her.Her mind couldn't quite grasp seeing the man she loved more than life itself and the demon she hated to the depths of her soul together in one room tearing each other limb from limb.

"That tender farewell you had out there… so very touching," Angelus sneered into Angel's face, bringing his fist up to crash into the ensouled vampire's jaw."It just made me want to puke!"

"Jealous that I have someone to say goodbye to?" Angel asked cuttingly.He wiped the blood his soulless brother had forced from his lip away and leered at Angelus.

The idea of Angelus being jealous of this pathetic carbon copy enraged him.He roared and flew at Angel, fists flying, but Angel expected this move.In fact, he counted on it.

With one fluid motion, Angel seized the reaching clawed hand of his adversary, stepped to his left and twisted.An antique oak table exploded under the dispatched vampire's bulk.

Angelus growled dangerously as he pulled himself to his feet, wiping dust and wood off his shirt."Good move, Brother," he said, keeping his back turned to Angel, not wanting to unveil the stake he'd salvaged from the ruined table."But not good enough."His movements were a blur; the stake turned a deadly wooden missile seeking the other vampire's soul-carrying heart.

Angel's reaction matched his evil twin's in speed and accuracy, the blade slicing through the air only registering when the piece of wood meant for Angel's heart ended its path on the floor in two neat halves.

"Seemed adequate to me," he drawled, taking immense pleasure in Angelus' impotent fury.

Angelus backed up to the wall, his watchful eyes never leaving his opponent."Swords it is then," he said determinedly, picking one of the mounted blades from the wall and testing it in his skillful hand.

With powerful battle cries, the two vampires charged one another.The clang of steel meeting steel rang out.

"You can't defeat me," Angelus hissed in Angel's identical face."I am you."

"You're wrong, Demon!" Angel answered.He blocked a swipe from his evil Other's sword and twisted with his wrist, sending Angelus' sword crashing to the far wall.He drove his demon to his knees with a well-placed kick and said as he brought the sword down, severing Angelus' head from his shoulders, "You are nothing but a bad memory."

"Goodbye," Angel whispered to Angelus as he watched the demon's body turning to dust, sifting to the floor.

Sudden pain knifed through the victorious vampire's chest, forcing him to his knees.Angel screamed, clawing at his body as the remaining part of what used to be Angelus fought for dear life.

"Angel!" Buffy cried from the corner she stood frozen in.

Her lover's cries of agony spurred her into motion, carrying her to his side.She laid her hand, ice cold with fright, on Angel's chest and felt the searing heat radiating off his skin as the defeated demon escaped the body that held it for over two and a half centuries.

"Angel?" she whispered, feeling the slow pulse thumping against her palm.

Angel looked at the hopeful face of his beloved."Buffy," he breathed.He reached up and cupped her warm cheek, feeling the wetness of her tears.

"Angel," Buffy sobbed, not daring to believe the actual breath touching her face.She showered kisses down on her beautiful, human man's face, tasting the life flowing through him.

"I love you," Angel whispered, trying to convey an eternity of emotion into his words.His final words. 

"Angel?No… no… no…" Buffy chanted, shaking her head in denial.She refused to believe that Angel, her soul mate, her love, was dying right before her eyes.She watched as the light of Angel's soul dimmed from his dark eyes that bathed her in so much love.She watched as the breath stopped passing through his lips and the beat of his heart ceased.

"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"The wail tore from her broken heart as Angel's lifeless hand fell from her cheek to his lifeless body.

********************** 

"He won."Spike's words broke the deafening silence that had fallen on the people gathered in Xander's living room.

Cordelia pulled her hands free from Spike's.She hadn't let go of the blonde vampire since they drove away from the mansion what seems like a lifetime ago."Oh no…" she choked back a sob, not wanting to hear the truth being spoken by her friend's vampire Childe's.

Spike didn't want to hear the words out loud any more than the crying woman backing away from him.He stood and tenderly folded her into his arms, his own tears drying in her dark hair.Quietly, he spoke the words his blood was screaming.

"Angel's gone."


	9. Enemy Without Chapter 17

17

Darkness.All-encompassing darkness.

"Not exactly what I expected," Angel mused.

He knew he was dead.He remembered breathing.He remembered feeling his heart beat human blood through human cells.He remembered looking down on his body as his soul left the realm of the flesh, watching Buffy cry over the shell he left behind.Then the darkness had folded around his ethereal self, leaving him drifting in some strange limbo.

"Not even a light at the end of a tunnel," he continued his musings.His voice had no echo in this place."You would think after all this, I would at least get to see the tunnel."

As if in response to his words, twin stars started winking in the distance.Angel frowned, concentrating on the dim light as it grew steadily brighter."Hello?" he called nervously.

The two pinpricks of light flashed in answer to Angel's call, burning brighter before fading again.The air around Angel's face started to move with the force of the lights passing through it.Angel could feel the pull of a powerful presence, but he wasn't afraid.He didn't sense malice or evil from the beings drifting towards him.

'And yes,' he decided.'They were indeed thinking, feeling beings.Maybe not flesh, but definitely intelligent.'

"Hello?" Angel called again, curious why he was here and not in whichever afterlife he had earned.

"Well done, Warrior," a disembodied voice drifted down to Angel.He was squinting against the light, but within the brilliant aura surrounding them, he could just make out the silhouette of a man and a woman."You have averted the Apocalypse and defeated your greatest enemy."

Angel recognized the voice as female and answered in the direction of the woman-silhouette, "Where am I?Who are you?"

"We are The Powers That Be," the man-silhouette answered.

"You have fulfilled your destiny," the woman-silhouette said, her voice musical in Angel's ears.

"If I fulfilled my destiny, why am I here with you, and not moving on to whatever afterlife I get to have?" Angel asked.The light emanating from the beings were burning his eyes and making his head spin.

The woman-silhouette's lilting voice resounded in his mind."The choice of your life or death lies with you."

Angel frowned.Talking to them directly was even more frustrating than decrypting the visions they sent Cordelia."I don't understand," he said."Didn't I shanshu?I died a human, didn't I?"

The man-silhouette's voice answered, replacing the melody of his female counterpart's voice in Angel's mind."You passed your final test. You accepted your own death over the death of others the demon Angelus would have caused."

"As reward for your ultimate sacrifice, the choice is yours to live as a man, or move on to your next life.What do you choose?" the woman-silhouette asked close to Angel's face.

Angel's mind was reeling from the news.He could return, live as a man, a human.He could be with Buffy.

The thought of the blonde woman chosen to battle the forces of darkness whom he loved so much made him pause.He looked up at the twin beings, not shielding his eyes from their light to better study them.Memories of that one perfect non-day that he and Buffy shared flowed through him as Angel asked, "What of the Slayer?Would my return as a human man change her flow of life?"

Silence fell over the towers of light.Their radiance faded in and out in rhythm with Angel's breath.It was the woman-silhouette that answered Angel, "She is the Chosen One.As such she is destined to only die young."

"You didn't answer my question.Before, when I was returned to humanity by the blood of the Mohra demon, the Oracles said that the Slayer would die sooner than she was destined to, because of me.I need to know if that is still true."Angel's frustration with the cryptic Powers was showing.

"Yes," the man-silhouette answered simply.

"Then I choose death," Angel said, pain coloring his determined words.

The woman-silhouette slowly floated around Angel, studying him as he studied her not so long ago."You would give up life as a human, life shared with the woman you love, to save her from an earlier death?" she queried.

This time it was Angel that answered simply."Yes."

"You would deny yourself the chance to share the sun with her?

Angel sighed, the weight of the questions bearing down on his heart."Buffy and I were never meant for the sun.Destiny tried to tell us that on so many different occasions in so many different ways.I am finally prepared to listen and accept.I would rather that Buffy mourn my death and move on to the happiness she deserves than have my presence cause her any more pain."

The Powers fell silent once again, their outer light waxing and waning under their silent conversation.They turned to their Warrior once again, the man-silhouette addressing Angel, "We are the Powers That Be.We see all that was, is and might yet be.

"As a mortal man, you were a lay-about and a drunkard with no destiny at all.As the vampire, Angelus, you were the most devastating force of Darkness ever set free on the world of Light.As a Warrior of Good, you were savior to many, including the Chosen One.

"Your destiny was clear, and you succeeded in fulfilling that destiny.You made amends for the evil you wrought.And as such, you are no longer indebted to us.You are free."

The woman-silhouette took up her counterpart's speech, "As a free being, you have choices.And here are the choices we can offer you.

"You can choose life as a mortal human like you were born to be.You will no longer be a Warrior, and will be free to live out your days as you see fit.Or you can choose death.Your soul will be released to find its final reward in the next life."

"Or you can choose the third option," the man-silhouette continued."Choose to be a Warrior of Good of your own free will.You will be returned to life as a mortal man, but with the strengths of the vampire life you have known.Which do you choose?"

Angel stood before the Powers That Be, shocked to silence.Memories of his life flashed before his eyes.He remembered Buffy, how brave and strong she always was.It didn't matter to her how great the evil was; she was always ready to battle it to the last.He remembered Doyle who gave his own life so that Angel could continue to fight the good fight.He remembered kissing Buffy in the sunlight.

Another memory came to the foreground.Wise words spoken by a scared girl: "I've seen too much. I know what goes bump in the night. Not being able to fight it..."

Buffy's words struck a cord in Angel.Never before had they rung so very true.He knew he could never be just a man without wanting to try and fight the demons feasting on innocence, but he couldn't not be with Buffy.Not again.

"I will be human?" Angel asked, wanting to know the fine print, even though he already made his decision."But with my old vampire strength and speed?"

"Yes," the man-silhouette confirmed."You will retain all the strengths, abilities and skills you enjoyed as a vampire, but you will be human."

Angel pressed on, "And Buffy?We can be together without any danger?"

"You will be free to love as a mortal man would love," the woman-silhouette answered, the smile in her voice turning the words into a song.

Angel allowed the words to sink in before speaking. 

"Very well.I will be your Warrior," he said, the passion of having a purpose burning through him.

The twin vessels of light surrounded Angel, covering his form with their heat.They reached out and touched him, saying in perfect unison, "So be it."

Fire flashed through Angel's body, the Powers' touch electrifying.He felt himself falling, the limbo parting around him with ever-increasing speed.The hard ground rushed up to meet him.Angel glimpsed his body lying immobile on the floor with Buffy still sobbing with his head held in her lap.

Then his perspective suddenly changed as his eyes flew open to stare up at the crying woman's face.Angel jerked upright, gulping in breath after tearing breath.His heart slammed against his breastbone, racing with the overload of oxygen it had to handle.

Buffy screamed, scurrying away from him with fright. 

"Angel?" she asked uncertainly, remembering every other time he had returned to her from some Hell or another.

Angel turned to her, still gasping, but slowly getting his breathing and heartbeat under control.This was going to take some getting used to, he thought amused.

"Buffy," he soothed."It's okay.I'm here.I'm me."

'Yes', Buffy saw, 'this was her Angel.And he was….'

"Alive…" she finished the thought out loud as she crawled to the man sitting in front of her.

Buffy raised her hand to Angel's chest.It shook with uncertainty, fear… and hope.Angel took her outstretched fingers in his now-warm hand and kissed her palm before gently placing it over his heart. 

Buffy looked from her hand to his face and back, tears of joy stinging her eyes."Your heart…" she said, choking back a sob."It's beating."

Angel pulled the weeping woman close to him, encircling her in his arms.He felt Buffy tremble at the feel of his breath against her ear.

"Yes," he whispered and kissed her, allowing his longing and love to be transported to where they were joined so closely.

After an eternity of tender exploration, their lips parted."But how?" Buffy breathed, needing to know if this fantasy was real.

"The Powers," Angel explained in a hushed tone."They made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

Angel thrilled at Buffy's tingling laugh, swallowing it with his mouth as he kissed her again.

With a little groan, he pulled away from his love.He needed to explain what happened, to find out how Buffy would react."They said if I returned a normal human man, you would die.Or die sooner, at least."

Buffy frowned."But you are human, aren't you?"She pulled away from Angel, giving him room to explain.

"The Powers said that if I chose of my own free will, I could keep my vampire strengths, but still be a human man with a soul.No curse."

"Chose what?"

"To be their Warrior."

Angel held his breath, waiting for Buffy's reaction.Would she accept him as a less than normal man?

Buffy rose to her feet, Angel's words repeating over and over in her mind.What would this mean?She had always wanted a normal relationship with a normal guy, but she knew that normal guys tend to die around her.And she knew that she would never be normal as long as she lived.

Could this be the answer, she wondered, wanting to hope for a happily ever after with all that she was.Could she and not-quite-normal Angel really have a future together?A future that has been denied them for so long?

"You mean you're like me now?" Buffy asked Angel, still not looking at him.

Angel also rose to his feet."If you mean like you in the sense of being stronger and faster than your average man, yes.I'm not a Slayer.That's not possible.I'm not what I was before.I'm not Liam and I'm not Angelus either, or vamp Angel for that matter.I'm just Angel, I guess."

"But you're mortal now, right?" Buffy questioned, finally meeting the uncertain man's eyes.

Angel nodded."I'm mortal now, just like you."He wanted so badly to touch her, but held back.The next move had to be Buffy's.

Buffy made her move.Slowly, carefully, she stepped up to Angel's tall frame.She reached up, touching his jaw, his cheek tenderly, memorizing his features with her fingertips.The feel of his warm skin under her hand washed away all the loneliness that had held her prisoner since Angel left her, and her decision was made.

She conveyed this decision to Angel by gently pulling his face down to her and kissing him.She whispered into his mouth, "Are you still my guy?"

Angel's mouth curled up into a happy smile.He swept his Slayer up into his powerful arms.

"Always."

Angel carried Buffy out into the waiting daylight. They both turned their faces to the welcome heat of the sun's rays, bathing in it.

"So, what now?" Buffy asked, brushing her smiling lips against Angel's cheek.

Angel smiled and caught Buffy's lips in a quick passionate kiss."Now we live happily ever after," he answered as he lowered her into the passenger side of his black convertible.He hopped into the driver's side and gunned the engine."Are you sure?" Angel asked without saying the words, afraid to believe that his dreams have finally come true.

Buffy leaned in close to her Angel, snuggling up to his side.She never wanted to leave his side ever again."Forever," she purred, as the reunited lovers drove off into their future.

**THE END**


End file.
